Life of a Konoha High Student
by PyschadelicHippy81
Summary: Follow the life of Himiko as she moves back to Konoha after the death of her father and finds herself in the care of Jiryia and her childhood friend Naruto. Life won't be boring now that she's back for good. After a few strange encounters, a load of new friends and perhaps a few enemies along the way, You couldn't even make it up... (Modern day AU)
1. Chapter 1

**This is an AU fanfic that I've been working on, I've really been a a roll writing this (However it's taken me forver to get it down again and proof read) **

**This is my second Fanfic, and I think it will probably be my main one for the time being as I'm having trouble getting the motivation to write more for the other one. This one seems to be a lot more fun to write...**

**(Im currently going over the story to make a few changes and adjustments also spelling mistakes etc should be gone.)**

**Anyway, I do not own anyone or anything within the Naruto universe, just my OC and the plot for the story. **

**ENJOY! :)**

* * *

Chapter 1 : Family friends

Sitting in the passenger seat of a small car, Himiko let her mind wonder as she looked out the window: rain beating down against it. She had spent the last week or so packing her belongings into boxes in preparation to move to Konoha after her father passed away. Her mother had died when she was little and her brother was currently serving in the army on the other side of the world. He would be away for months on end, and seeing as this was an unstable environment for her she was entrusted to an old family friend: a strange, but very humorous white haired man who was close to her father growing up. All that she could remember was that his name was Jiraya. Her elder brother had told her a bit about him before he went off on tour, but truth be told she did'nt have a clue who he was...

She looked over at him as he quietly hummed along to a song playing on the radio whilst he was driving. He had noticed her gaze and spoke up in an attempt to get a conversation going.

"Sorry Naruto couldn't be here; he's in school right now. Once your settled in, you'll be going to the same school."

Himiko smiled slightly as she remembered the spiky blond haired boy that he was referring to. The two were inseperable when we were little, even though she was a year older than him. Her family had moved away from Konoha a couple of years ago becasue her father had been promoted in his job and it required them to move to Suna. Although they were far away Naruto and Himiko would still keep in contact and talk from time to time, but it just wasn't the same as talking in person. Eventually they talked less and less as time passed but she had always held on to the fond memories she had of him when they were younger.

_I wonder if he still remembers me? It's been a few years now... I imagine he's gotten much taller since I last seen him, and probably much louder too._

The car suddenly stopped and once she had a look around, it was obvious that they had stopped at a gas station. Jiriya swiftly left the car after asking inquiring if she wanted anything from the small shop whilst they had the chance to pick some stuff up.

"No thanks, I'm okay." She said politely and he nodded and left for the shop.

Now that she was left alone for a few moments, she turned the volume of the radio up and flicked through a few radio stations, immediately stopping once she heard the chorus of her favorite song.

(Catfish and the bottlemen - Kathleen)

She sang along, drumming her fingers on the dashboard to the beat getting lost in the music.

After a few minuets she looked out the car window to see Jiriya making his was back to the car again and quickly decided to shut up before he caught her singing, also turning the volume down again as if she had never touched it.

He entered the car with a small bag of groceries and set them in the back seat behind him. He glanced down at his watch to check the time before looking over to Himiko again.

"Well, look at the time. Naruto will be home from school soon, we'd best get going!"

He started up the car and they soon found themselves at the house. It was a white bungalow of decent size, with a large garden out front that had various colorful flowers and plants lined around the edge of it. The car pulled up in the driveway and Himiko let her thoughts wonder as she admired the flowers in the garden through the window.

_I wonder who looks after all the flowers? Jiriya doesn't look like the gardening type..._

The rain had stopped momentarily and both Himiko and Jiriya started to take her belongings out of the boot and into the house. She made her way back out of the house to get another one of her suitcases when she looked to see a spiky mop of blond hair from behind Jiriya's small car.

He must have told Naruto she was here as she suddenly heard his unmistakable voice all the way from the other side of the garden.

"HEY HIMIKO! LONG TIME NO SEE, EH?"

He called, approaching her in large strides before pulling her into a bear hug, squeezing her tight.

"Ahh...Can't breath..N-Naruto..."

She wheezed, before he finally let go of her, standing back and scratching the back of his neck out of nervous habit.

She grinned, realizing that her theory about being taller than her was right, she was a good few inches smaller than him now.

"Well, you sure have grown a lot since we last met!"

I said, laughing slightly.

"Yea I know, haha. It's the growth spurt thingy. Didn't recon it would have happened to me you know."

She ginned from ear to ear as she went to speak but was interrupted by the loud coughs of Jiriya in the background, swiflty reminding them that he was still here. They both looked over to him and suddenly remembered about the array suitcases in the car that still needed to be taken into the house.

He daringly raised an eyebrow and the two teens made their way back to the car, taking more stuff out of the car.

Later on after everything was movied into her new room and Himiko had some time to settle in, Jiriya ordered everyone a pizza as he couldn't be bothered with the effort of making something from long drive from their airport seemingly tired him out. Seeing as they were all sat in the living room together with their food, they took the opportunity to catch up since it had been a while since we had all seen each other.

Naruto and Himiko bith cringed and held back nervous laughter as Jiriya delved into various tales of the strange things they got up to when they were little. He, on the other hand held no reserve in outright laughing througout his story telling.

"Ahaha...and you two were covered head to toe in mud...we just looked at you...we didn't know what to think...hahah..."

He leaned back on his position on the floor, wiping a tear from his eye as he tried to control his laughter...He was defiantly finding it funnier than them as they just looked at each other cringingly and shook their heads.

A few hours later, after taking a shower and changing into some pajamas (consisting of a baggy grey t shirt and black and white stripped shorts) Himiko went back to her room to start unpacking more of ther already had a few things out of their boxes such as clothes and other everyday stuff so she decided she'd try to get most of the unpacking out of the way now. An hour or so had passed and just finished putting the sheets on her bed when she heard the phone ring in the hallway.

After hearing it ring a few times she popped her head out the door to see if anyone was going to answer it. After giving it a few more seconds, she walked out into the hallway and picked up the phone.

"Um...Hello?"

She said, feeling a little awkward.

"Hello? Who's this?"

A male voice replied, a confused tone evident as he spoke.

"Who's this? Your the one that called."

She said back, feeling much more awkward than before.

"Hn...Whatever. Is Naruto there?"

The male voice replied impatiently, clearly avoiding her question.

Himiko quickly looked around the hallway for any sign of him before walking into the living room to find Jiriya. He looked away from the TV he was watching and over to her as she entered the room.

"Hey, is Naruto around?"

She inquired, covering the phone with her hand.

"He's in the shower at the moment. Who's that?"

He gestured to the phone in her hands.

"Um...I'm not sure, but their asking for him."

She said, realizing that she never got an answer as to his name.

"It's probably Sasuke or someone, he'll phone them back when he gets out the shower."

She nodded and put the phone back to her ear.

"He's in the shower at the moment, do you want me to leave a message, or..?"

She said going back into the hallway, leaving Jiriya to watch his program.

"No just tell him to call me back. It's important."

He answered abruptly before hanging up, not even giving her the chance to ask who the hell he was.

_Gees, whats this guys problem? _

She made her way back to her room after putting the phone back on it's place on the stand in the hallway. Sitting on her newly made bed she reflected about what the hell just happened. As far as she knew it wasn't a thing in Konoha to randomly call peoples houses and demand to be called back without giving your name...what a weiro...

_Oh great, I forgot to ask his name...Oh well, Naruto would probally know who it was anyway, If it was something important._

* * *

**Thank you for reading! :) x**

**Please review and let me know what you think? **


	2. Chapter 2

**I've**** been meaning to update sooner but Iv'e really got caught up in writing more of the chapters that I haven't had the time to re write and proof read etc. **

**As always, I do not own anything within the Naruto universe. I only own my OC Himiko and any other OC that may pop up somewhere in the story.**

**With that said, ENJOY! :) **

* * *

Chapter 2: Encounters of the awkward kind

Himiko woke up early the next morning, as she was not adjusted to the new house yet. She stepped out of her room in her groggy, still half asleep state - not caring that she looked like a complete mess right now because her hair was all over the place. She decided to make herself some toast before going to the living room, seeing as she was starving.

Being still half asleep, she hadn't noticed that Naruto and some other person were sitting in the living room already and were staring at her as she walked in and sat on one of the sofas.

Naruto broke the silence that she had not realized was awkward.

"Hey Himiko what has you up this early?"

He said in his usual loud tone, even if it was early in the moring...

His voice rang through her ears as she turned in her seat to look at him, noticing another person sitting on the sofa that was opposite her. He just stared at her in this half annoyed manner and she didn't know what to think.

Turning her attention back to Naruto she tried to hide her blush: not for the sake of the random boy staring at her across the room, but because she looked like she had been dragged through some sort of Forrest with the way her hair stuck out in different directions, not to mention it was warm last night so she wore shorts that were quite, well short.

"I couldn't sleep, new house and all."

She said, still sounding tired.

"You'll get used to it in no time Himi-Chan."

He said kindly and she smiled at her nickname, she was older than him but she didn't care; the name suited anyway. No one else really called her by that nick name but it was unique to their friendship. If she was honest, anyone else younger than her calling her by that name would be a bit weird.

He suddenly got up after glancing at the clock on the wall, his weirdo friend followed suit and they made their way out of the living room.

"Well I have to go, were gonna to be late for school. See you later Himi-chan!"

A few second later he popped his head back in the door and gestured to the other boy standing beside him who had not yet been introduced.

"- This is Sasuke by the way. Hes the guy who phoned last night."

She nodded in response as she observed the boy from her spot on the sofa.

_Dark hair, Dark eyes...pale skin...That unmatched glare..._

Her thoughts trailed as she noticed him staring back at her from the hallway, giving her a glare when he realized she was looking him up and down.

_...Definatly an Uchiha._

She concluded in her mind before he and Naruto disappeared out the front door.

_Well that was embarrassing..._

She inwardly thought as she stepped in front of the mirror in the far corner of the living room, just now realizing how bad her hair was.

After getting washed and showered she went back to her room to get dressed.

She wore a pair of plain black leggings with a pair of white vans and a black and dark blue patterned vest top. She also had her small wooden beaded necklace on that she wore pretty much every day. For makeup she wore a small amount of foundation to cover the circles under her eyes and applied some basic eyeliner to frame her emerald green eyes. Her long white hair was pulled back and tied in a somewhat messy (but still presentable) bun at the top of her head. She pulled a small amount of hair lose to sit at either side of her face, also pulling on her hair to loosen the bun some more.

With all that done she went into the kitchen to find that Jiriya had gotten up and was sitting at the table eating some breakfast.

He looked up from his morning paper and smiled at her.

"You up already? I would have expected you to be out cold until the early afternoon; what with all that moving stuff yesterday."

He chuckled lightly before taking a sip of his coffee, seemingly recovered from the long journey yesterday. She sat down at the table directly across from him and cracked a smile at his comment, scratching the back of her neck.

"Yea, I would have thought so too but I guess not. Do you have work today Jiriya?"

She asked, wondering if she would be left in the house on her own for the day.

"Yea I do, but I was thinking you could go sight seeing or something to pass the time. I wouldn't want you sitting in the house all day with weather like that. Besides it's the first time youve been back to Konoha in how long? Theres bound to be loads of thing that have changed since you moved."

His statement caught her attention and she looked out the window to see the trees outside being lit up by the powerful rays of the sun. She half expected it to still be raining as she thought back to how heavy it was last night.

_The weather is so unpredictable in Konoha. At least in Suna you could always count on it being sunny..._

She thought to herself before looking over to Jiriya and remembering what they were talking about.

"That sounds good, I have some money in my purse; I could go shopping too!"

Himiko beamed, already getting excited at the thought of all the clothes shops she would find while she was out. Shopping alone wouldn't be nearly as fun as with friends but she was sure she would still enjoy herself. Besides as Jirya said, there must be loads of new shops and places for her to discover now that shes back after all these years...

_Today isn't going to be so boring after all!_

* * *

_~Elsewhere, in a classroom on the other side of town~_

Naruto and Sasuke sat in Science class while their teacher Orochimaru droned on about something neither of them where paying attention to, something about plant cells or something...

Naruto turned to Sasuke who was sitting beside him, and tried to start a conversation to pass the time seeing as neither of them were listening.

"Man, I have no clue what he's talking about. Why do we have to learn about plants anyways?.."

He said, genuinely confused about the topic of the lecture.

"It's part of the curriculum, I don't know..."

Sasuke replied, his voice consisting of nothing but boredom. He sat there half asleep with his chin rested on the back of his hand.

"Anyway, Himiko-Chan is gonna be starting here tomorrow...I think she'll be in the year above us though."

Sasuke rolled his eyes at Naruto, he had been talking about this girl all day, what was with him? And how come she was over at his house at all hours of the day?(or morning)

"So, is she your new girlfriend or something? You sure talk about her an awful lot."

Narutos eyes suddenly widened as he processed his words. Trying to hide a small blush, he sat back in his chair and scoffed.

"No, it's not like that idiot. Weve been friends since we were practically in diapers."

"Oh right. How do you know her then?"

Sasuke asked, suddenly becoming interested in this girl. Not that he showed any external signs of it, he just played it off as being sociable.

"Well her father and Jiriya go way back, they went to school together or something I think. We got along well as kids, you know?"

"How come your only telling me about her now? I mean if you've been friends from no age then why haven't I seen her around, or even heard about her?"

Sasuke inquired, only after he spoke did he realise how obessessive he sounded, but It wasn't like that. He was just curious about who she was, right?

"She moved away a few years back, I think her dad got promoted in his job or something like that. We would have talked from time to time but she wasn't able to visit or anything."

"I see..."

Sasuke nodded in response and Naruto's face lit up suddenly. He knew Naruto well enough to know that he had some sort of plan in mind, even before saying it. He didn't even attempt to guess what was going on in that mind of his: most times it was something that would end them up in trouble...

"Hey, we should round up the guys and head out for some ramen after school and invite Himiko-Chan along!"

He grinned to himself, thinking it was the best plan ever. Combining the two most important things in his life: His best friends and ramen. That being in no particular order of course...

Sasuke seemed skeptical of this idea already. A load of guys and just one girl?...And anyways, he was sure they were banned from the ramen shop after things got a bit out of hand the last time they all went there.

"And by 'Guys' I hope you don't mean the likes of Kiba. Do you really want to put the fear of God into her before she even starts here?"

Naruto took a moment to think things through and eveb he realised that probally wasn't a good idea.

_He's got a point there, Kiba would just hit on her and make things uncomfortable...and thats all we need. _

"Well how about we ask Sakura and Hinata to go too? Then she wont be the only girl there."

Sasuke shrugged his shoulders as the bell rang, signalling the end of the class.

"I suppose those two might go, they might get along well...plus Sakura would keep Kiba in line if he said anything creepy."

He thought out loud as they both got up to leave the classroom.

"Then its set, we'll tell everyone at lunch and see who wants to come."

* * *

**And that's chapter two! **

**I really needed to get this one out there before I go back to School, and this might be my last update for a little while until I'm adjusted to School again.**

**Anyways I hope you enjoyed and thank you for reading! x :)**

**Drop a review if you like and let me know you think about the story so far. **


	3. Chapter 3

**So, I got this one out a lot quicker than I expected (and I'm quite happy about that!) **

**Thank you to wolfmoon30 for the follow and favorite! And also to vivcamel for the follow!**

**Its nice to know that someone is enjoying the story so far, and there's lots more to come.**

**As always I do not own anything or anyone within the Naruto world, just my OC and the plot. **

**ENJOY :) **

* * *

Chapter 3: IT'S RAMEN TIME!

Himiko was on her way back home after spending the last few hours in various clothes shops around town. She had bought a load of clothes from this one shop that sold loads of cool geometric print tops and skinny jeans. She was stuck between being a tomboy and a girly girl - both had things that appealed to her. For example: One day she would wear a pretty pastel colored sundress with dolly shoes and the next day she would be wearing a 'Led Zeppelin' band t shirt and a pair of leggings. She was just weird like that, but then again who all wants to be the same, right...

She approached the white painted bungalow, noticing that Jiriya's car was still gone.

_He must still be at work then, I wonder when he'll be back..._

Her thoughts were interrupted as she once again heard the all too familiar loud voice of her friend.

"HEY HIMIKO, WERE BACK."

_We? _

She thought to herself as she turned around to see the raven haired boy from earlier following behind Naruto.

_Oh, I see..._

They walked up to her and looked down at the array of shopping bags in her hands, almost surprised she could carry that much. Looks were deceaving, but when it came to shopping Himiko didn't care how many bags she had to lug around with her.

"Why girls buy so many clothes, I will never understand."

He sighed and rolled his eyes sarcastically and Sasuke looked away, clearly uninterested with the topic of shopping.

"Yea, Its not something that boys really get..."

She laughed lightly out of nervous habit, unsure of what else to say.

They made their way into the house and Sasuke followed close behind. Himiko set her bags on the sofa and sat down to rest for a couple of minuets. She had been walking most of the day and was a little tired. Compaired to Suna, the shopping district of Konoha was some sort of high end labyrinth. Not that she could afford the 'high end' shops anyway...

Naruto and Sasuke sat on the sofa opposite her. After a few minuets of comfortable silence, Naruto spoke up.

"Hey Himi-Chan, were going out for some ramen with a few friends, do you wanna come along?"

He asked, finally deciding to put his plan into action. Now that she thought about it, she was getting hungry...

"Sure, why not."

She shrugged whilst getting up and taking her bags to her room.

"Just let me put my bags away, I'll only be a few minuets."

"Alright, we'll be in the car."

Naruto called as he went out the front door.

"Car? What car?"

She called back from her room. When she didn't get a reply she walked out to the hallway to find them, unaware that Naruto had already left. Looking around she had concluded that they were indeed 'In the car' and backed up a few steps, accidentally knocking into someone.

She turned around to see Sasuke just standing there like a weirdo, not a sound escaped him as he just looked at her.

"Oh, sorry Sasuke..."

She said slightly embarrassed and she took a step back to give him some space.

"Naruto said hurry up. Were going In my car, since you asked."

He said before making his way to the front door, not bothering to wait for her.

"Oh, okay."

She followed him out the door and into his car. She sat in the back seat while Sasuke was in the driving seat and Naruto sat opposite him. There was a lingering silence before Himiko's curiosity got the better of her.

"So these friends of yours, what are they like?"

She leaned forward in her seat and rested her arm on the chair in front of her - the one Naruto was sitting in. This Sasuke person was weird enough around her, she didn't want to make things any more akward then they already were.

The blonde chuckled before answering and Sasuke rolled his eyes, which she caught in the mirror.

"Their some characters I'll tell you that. I invited Sakura and Hinata too so that you wouldn't be the only girl...But I have to warn you about Kiba, I tried to steer him away from going but he insisted."

"I see, well as long as he isn't creepy or anything I don't mind. It'll be nice to make a couple friends before I start school."

"Yea, It'll be less awkward that way. You'll be in the year above us but a few of my friends will be in your year. Tenten and Neji, a couple others too."

He looked back at her in his seat as they approached the parking lot outside the ramen shop. Sasuke stopped the car and got out quickly without saying a word, leaving them behind in the car.

_He hasn't spoken a word since we got in the car. I'm starting to get the feeling he doesn't like me or something..._

"He doesn't talk much, does he?"

She asked, opening the car door and getting out. Naruto was already out and stood their to wait for her.

"No, it's just that your new. He's a cool guy once you get to know him, don't worry about it."

The two entered the ramen shop and immediately noticed the crowd of people sitting at a large table at the back. There were about six people in all and they were about to order their food.

One of them turned around to see who had entered the shop and shot up in his seat, hollering over to Naruto.

"HEY NARUTO, YOUR LATE! WERE ALREADY ORDERING!"

Naruto chuckled to himself as he rubbed the back of his neck and looked over to Himiko.

"...Well, there's Kiba..."

The brown haired boy continued to stand out of his seat, calling over to them again in his loud voice.

"WHAT, DON'T TELL ME YOU'VE GONE SHY IN FRONT OF YOUR GIRLFRIEND!"

Himiko and Naruto looked at each other simultaneously, she flashed him a glare that clearly read 'What the hell is he talking about?' and he looked back confused and shrugged his shoulders.

A pink haired girl sitting opposite from Kiba proceeded to shut him up by leaning over the table and punching him in the arm before scolding him.

"SHUT UP YOU IDIOT, DON'T BE SO LOUD! YOU EMBARRASSING THEM!"

We made our way over to the table and sat at the end where the last empty seats were. She was sat across from Naruto and was beside a dark haired girl with deep lavender colored eyes. She was blushing a deep red for some reason, but Himiko dismissed it as 'That Kiba guy embarrassing her'.

As he settled in his seat, taking in who was there, he looked around for Sasuke noticing that he was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey wheres Sasuke?"

A boy with long dark hair and lavender eyes, who looked very much like the girl, spoke up informatively.

"He went to the bathroom just before you guys came in. He seems annoyed at something..."

The pink haired girl nodded in agreement.

"More so than usual, what's up with him?"

"Its probably his time of the month or something...God he's so moody."

Kiba sat down in his chair again before turning his attention to Himiko. He rested his chin on his hand, as if to look bored, and studied her from across the table. She felt his gaze and looked over to him, smiling politely. Though she couldn't help but feel slightly nervous, this guy wasn't at all being discreet about his examination of her.

"So Naruto, whats your girlfriends name?"

He chuckled under his breath. Himiko noticed at that moment the the girl beside her had shifted in her seat, an uncomfortable look on her face. So it wasn't just her who was uncomfortable by this guy? Naruto did warn her asfter all but damn...

She rolled her eyes at the boy and was about to set things straight when she was cut off by Naruto.

"I told you she's not my girlfriend; she's a family friend. Now will you put your eyes back in your head?"

He retorted in a sarcastic, yet somewhat serious manner. Everyone laughed at this and Kiba blushed, cursing under his breath. Himiko couldn't help but laugh herself, even the girl beside her had become less tense and relaxed in her seat now that Mr Cocky was put in his place.

_Naruto was right, they really are some characters..._

They each ordered their various types of ramen and began chatting again. One by one Naruto introduced them to her. There was Kiba, the loud mouth brown haired boy who was convinced she was Naruto's girlfriend (he almost gave Naruto a run for his money). Hinata, the girl with the lavender eyes and dark hair who was quieter than most of the others. She seemed like a really nice person though. Neji, who was Hinata's cousin, and was also very smart/sarcastic. Choji, who was already eating food when we came in, he had really cool swirly things on his cheeks that made him look funny (but she wouldn't dare say anything at this stage. Sakura was the pink haired girl, she seemed really friendly and lastly Shikamaru: who had fallen asleep in the corner with his head on the table. He was also very smart, but he didnt talk much.

Sasuke had joined them again and sat next to Himiko, seeing as it was the only seat left. From time to time she would feel his gaze on her, but she ignored it to avoid any more awkwardness between them.

Choji spoke up for the first time and started up a conversation while they waited for their food. From what she had seen of him, he seemed to be a generally nice person. One who had lot to say about food...

"So when are you starting school Himiko, will you be in our year? Naruto told us that you're a year older so you'll probally be in Neji's class."

"Actually I'm going to be starting tomorrow, but I don't think I'll be in the same year as you guys. But hey, I can still hang out with you all at lunch right?"

"Of course Himiko-Chan, and I'm sure you'll make friends with Temari: she'll be in your class most likely."

Hinata spoke up for the first time, a kind smile on her face.

Himiko naturally smiled as she turned her attention to the dark haired girl beside her.

"Who is Temari?"

She asked, curious.

"She's a friend of ours, but she couldn't make it today."

Kiba joined the conversation again, leaning over the table towards her.

"She's also a good friend of Shikamaru's, If you know what I mean..."

He whispered, chuckling quietly as he gestured over to Shikamaru who had his head rested on the table sleeping. The others laughed knowingly at this and Himiko instantly caught on to his meaning. Friends with benefits most likely, not that she was anyone to judge.

The food arrived not long after and things were quiet as they all ate. After chatting some more and everyone paying their share, they each went their separate ways. Naruto and Himiko ended up walking home as Sasuke's hospitality came to a rather abrupt end.

The blonde grinned ear to ear as they walked along the street; the street lamp lighting up his features.

"Man, they all seem to like you. You fit right in Himi-Chan!"

She laughed along with him.

"You were right, their some characters! I have a feeling that school tomorrow isn't going to be so dull."

"Haha, Nope. Not with all those guys around, always something going on!"

He started up laughing again, as if remembering something funny that happened regarding them."

They were soon back at the house, Jiriya's car was parked outside implying he was home from work. Himiko went straight to bed when she got in: she was exhausted all the shopping earlier on, not to mention the ramen shop.

She soon feel asleep thinking about what tomorrow would bring, by any accounts it wouldn't be boring!

* * *

**And that's chapter 3!**

**I'm not sure when the next update will be, but It will be soon enough. **

**Thank you for reading! :) x **


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: New School, New Friends**

**I sorry for the long wait for the update of the new chapter, I've been overwhelmed with schoolwork recently. Hope y'all can forgive me!**

**I've made sure that this chapter is extra long to compensate for the wait!**

**Also, thank you all for the favs and follows I've gained in the last while, I'm glad that people are enjoying it so far! :) **

**As usual, I do not own anyone or anything within the Naruto world, just my OC Himiko. And with that said...**

**ENJOY:)**

* * *

The next morning Himiko was woken by loud knocks at her door, followed by Naruto's voice.

"Himi-Chan, it's time to get up."

She stirred in her bed unable to register his words, she was still so tired and didn't want to move from the warm comfort that was her bed. When he didn't get a reply, Naruto opened the door and popped his head in, seeing that she had pulled the covers over her head.

"Will you get up already? Jees I thought I was bad at waking up in the mornings…"

She slid the covers down just enough so she could look at him, sticking her tongue out so he could see. She noticed he was already washed and dressed; wearing a blain black t-shirt with a thin rope necklace and a pair of dark colored jeans. She wondered what time it was exactly for him to be up and dressed already.

"Your dressed already…what time is it anyways?"

She said in her groggy state, finally getting up and waling towards him at the door. He chuckled and scratched at the back of his head nervously before giving his reply.

"Well, its about ten to eight. I called for you to get up at seven but you didn't answer."

Himiko froze still for a few seconds, taking in his words before bolting out of the room, pushing him aside as she ran down the hall towards the bathroom.

"WHAT THE HELL NARUTO, I'M GONNA BE LATE!"

She yelled before entering the bathroom. She heard him laugh from the hallway and rolled her eyes, closing the door behind her.

_Late...On my first day. Thank you for that one Naruto._

She got showered and dressed in lightning speed, her clothes consisting of a light colored pair of skinny jeans and a white and navy baseball top with a printed picture of the Beatles on it. She wore a pair of navy vans and decided that she would leave her hair down to show its natural waviness. She applied her usual makeup which was foundation and a bit of eyeliner, applying some mascara for good measure.

After getting dressed, Himiko went into the kitchen and grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl on the table, eating it as fast as she could. When she finished eating the fruit, she noticed that Jiriya was nowhere to be seen.

_He must have gone to work early or something…_

She knew he would have got her up on time if he was here, instead of leaving it to Naruto who was far less reliable…

All of a sudden, there was a knock at the front door that broke the silence thought the house. It was followed by Naruto greeting someone at the door.

"Come on Himiko, that's our ride!"

The blonde called from the hallway, prompting her to come out of the kitchen. Sasuke stood at the front door with his usual plain expression and she looked at him from the other end of the hallway. Their eyes suddenly met when he felt her gaze, they looked at each other for a brief moment before Himiko momentarily left to grab her schoolbag from her room. The three then exited the house and made their way to the car.

They were soon at the parking lot of the school. They all got out of the car before Sasuke issued a quick goodbye, claiming that he would catch up with them later. He said something about an early meeting for the basketball team as he locked the car and made his way in the opposite direction without looking back. Naruto seemed unphased by this, so Himiko just assumed it happens a lot.

Naruto proceeded to show Himiko the schools main office so she could get her timetable. As they walked through the main corridor they got strange looks from people. Every now and then she would catch people whispering to each other; this started to make her feel self conscious from everyone looking at them.

Naruto had noticed too, looking over to her to reassure her.

"Well, now everyone knows who the new person is…Don't worry they'll stop staring eventually."

He laughed lightly as they walked approached the main office door. Somehow she didn't find his words reassuring…

The blond wrapped a few times on the door before a woman with short black hair answered, looking over to Himiko, instantly knowing that she was the new student and ushered them in.

They entered the small office area to see and older blonde woman sitting at a desk beside a window at the far side of the room. She looked up from her paperwork and smiled at them politely.

"So, you're the new student; Sayugi Himiko, right?"

She smiled back as the two walked closer to the desk.

"Yes."

She said simply, not really knowing what else to say. There was an awkward silence for a few moments as the blonde haired woman looked back down to her paperwork. Naruto grew impatient in the silence and took the opportunity to hurry things along.

"Granny Tsunade, She's here for her-"

Naruto spoke up, only to be cut off mid sentence as the woman looked up from her paperwork and glared at him intensely.

"Yes I know, and what did I tell you about calling me that! You nee to be careful Naruto, your still in my bad books from that fight you caused a few weeks back, you hear me!"

Himiko nearly jumped out of her skin at the woman's sudden outburst. Tsunade noticed this and took a deep breath before retaining her calm demeanour, as not to scare her any further.

"I'm sorry about that Himiko, here's your timetable. Now there's a girl called Tenten and another called Temari, their in most of your classes and I've asked them to keep an eye on you untull you get settled in…is that okay?"

She smiled sincerely and Himiko nodded once in reply.

"Great, now period will be staring soon. You're in English language class first thing and I expect Naruto to show you there."

She looked over to Naruto expectantly and he quickly too the hint. The two left the office quickly and made their way up the stairs towards the English corridor. Not a word was spoken whilst they walked side by side, Himiko wondered if what Tsunade had said really bothered him, he was never this quiet…

He suddenly spoke up, breaking the silence as they reached the top of the staircase.

"Man, Granny Tsunade wont let me forget about that. I'll never live that one down…"

The blonde said, an unusually serious expression sprawled across his face. He referred to the 'Fight' that she had mentioned that had happened a couple of weeks ago. Himiko continued to observe his expression when curiosity got the better of her.

"So what happened?"

She asked, genuinely interested to hear the story of what had happened. She never thought Naruto for a fighter; he was always one to sort things out with words…

He pondered for a moment on how to explain before his expression lightened up and he was back to his normal self. He smiled lightly as if remembering something funny as they continued to walk towards the end of the hallway; their destination.

"It was some senior guy with the biggest ego you'd ever see. "

He paused again, chuckling slightly before he continued.

"You don't wanna know…"

He flashed her a look that clearly read that he really didn't want to relive the events over again for the sake of a story. She took his word for it that she probably didn't want to know all the details and they kept walking.

Suddenly they stopped at the end of the hallway outside a classroom with a small silver plaque on it.

_English room 3: Mr Hatake _

Naruto took a deep breath before saying a quick _"Good luck" _and patting her on the back and heading back down the hall to what Himiko assumed was where his class was.

She entered the room to find everyone was already seated. The teacher, who she assumed was Mr Hatake, walked over and gave her a welcoming smile though some sort of mask that covered most of his face. She stared at his mask as he approached her by the door.

"Ah, there you are. This is out new student Sayugi Himiko. Say hello everyone!"

He turned towards the class and gained their attention. She instantly felt everyone's attention on her and tried not to blush out of nervous habit.

The class gave an unenthusiastic _"Hello"_ before she was told to sit beside a blonde haired girl with four ponytails at the back of the room, as it was the only seat left in the classroom. As she did so, she couldn't help but hear the various whispers of her new classmates. The most common to be heard was along the lines of _"Hey, isn't that the girl who came in with Naruto this morning?.."_ With a few giggles following after.

As she sat down in her seat the blonde haired girl looked at her and gave a welcoming smile, though not nearly as creepy as Mr Hatakes (besides the fact he was wearing a mask). Himiko smiled back as she introduced herself as Temari.

"Lady Tsunade said I'd be showing you around the school today. That wont take long; theres nothing much to see…"

She trailed off, rolling her eyes before going back to the conversation.

"Hey, are you a friend of Narutos? Everyone seems to be talking about you two."

Himiko shook her head in slight disbelief and chuckled slightly.

_So it's already around the school, what a bunch of gossips…_

"Yea, he's a family friend; though I don't think 'Family friend' is how everyone took it…"

She mumbled the last part, knowing exactly what everyone was thinking. Temari let out a short laugh before turning in her seat slightly to face her better.

"Yea.. Were gonna have to set that one straight. Wouldn't want anyone thinking you're going out with that idiot."

She grinned evilly as if she had some grand master plan in mind. The two talked some more during the class after they got some work done. They found out that they actually had a lot in common and liked most of the same things. Temari also told her about some of the other people in her year, like her brother Kankuro; who she said she would introduce to her later on, and Tenten who was going to show her around the school too.

They pair then made their way to the second class of the day, which was art. As they walked down the corridor, they stopped when Temari saw a tall brown haired boy wearing a jacket with cat ears.

_What ever floats your boat I guess…_

She thought to herself, observing his jacket whilst Temari introduced him as her brother Kankuro. He seemed nice enough and they talked a little whilst resuming their walk to the Art room.

"So where are you from Himiko?"

He asked as the three of them made their way up the stairs.

"I'm from Konoha originally, but my family moved to Suna a few years ago after my father got promoted in his job."

His face lit up half way through her response and he grinned from ear to ear.

"That's so cool. You know we're from Suna, but we moved her a while back."

Himiko couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm.

"Oh yea, its like backwards of what happened to me."

They all laughed in unison and they found themselves in the Art room. Himiko sat between Temari and Kankuro and they continued their conversation whilst they drew their individual pictures for their assignment.

By the time the class ended Himiko learned a lot more about the siblings and even found out that they had a younger brother in the year below them. He was a friend of Narutos and they agreed that they would introduce him when they all went for lunch.

The rest of the day coming up to lunch went by quickly. Himiko had been introduced to Tenten when they found that she was in the same gym class as her and Temari. She also seemed like a really cool person and the three of them talked away until it was time to go to lunch.

* * *

They approached the large table at the back of the room with their individual trays of food. Temari sat next to Shikamaru and Himiko sat between Choji and Hinata, Tenten opted to sit at the end of the table beside a red haired boy who she learned was Temari and Kankuros brother, Gaara.

Himiko had already been introduced to most of them, apart from Lee, Shino and Gaara. They each exchanged greetings and continued eating their lunch.

When introduced to Lee, he held his hand out across the table to shake her hand, which she too held her hand out. Lee shook her hand enthusiastically and she went to pull away but he kept hold of her hand and leaned closer to her over the table.

"Wow, Himiko-Chan you are very beautiful!"

He said almost in awe. Himiko found his remark slightly creepy but couldn't help but blush from the complement. She started to feel awkward and looked down at her hand that he was still holding.

"PLEASE BE MY-"

He began to say before being swiftly and rather loudly interrupted by Sakura and Tenten, whilst the others let out various groans of annoyance.

"WILL YOU KNOCK IT OFF LEE, JEES."

Sakura threatened, punching him in the shoulder so that he would release his hold on Himikos hand. Her methods were brutal, but she was grateful nonetheless. Tenten then took her turn to scold him.

"Just…don't say it Lee. Do you really have to ask out every girl that's nice to you? I'm sorry but please…Just stop."

She begged from her seat, growing tired of having to put up with his depression every time he was turned down by a girl. The other laughed in disbelief that he still he still held his enthusiasm after the scolding he took from the two girls.

As Himiko returned to eating her sandwich, she felt a familiar gaze from across the table, looking to see Sasuke looking at her. He quickly looked away when he realized she was looking back at him. Now that she thought of it, she had caught him looking at her a few times at the ramen shop last night too. She really started to wonder what his problem was. She felt like he was analyzing her or something, but never had the courage to ask him why he insisted on staring at her so much.

_He sure is a weird one…_

She thought to herself as the other caught themselves up in conversation. She hadn't been paying much attention until they all suddenly looked at her as if waiting for a reply. Naruto spoke up again, repeating the question that the others had been waiting for the reply of.

"So how about it, Himiko?"

She blinked a few times, confused.

"I'm sorry, what?"

Naruto rolled his eyes sarcastically before explaining again.

"A sleepover at the weekend, how about it?"

She was about to reply before Kiba interrupted.

"Yea but where are we gonna go? Your place Naruto?"

He thought for a few seconds before shaking his head in conclusion.

"Nah, we couldn't; not enough room . What about your house Sasuke?"

The blonde inquired, suddenly bringing him into the conversation.

"I don't think there's enough room for everyone at mine."

He spoke sceptically, looking over to Himiko once more.

"Nah man I'm sure there's enough room, Itachi holds all those Akaustki parties at your house and there's enough room for all those guys."

Kiba reasoned, before taking another bite of his sandwich.

"Yea, we can all sleep on the floor if we have too."

Hinata piped in from the other side of the table.

After several other attempts to convince him, Sasuke sighed in defeat. But not before rolling his eyes for dramatic effect.

"Okay, I'll ask Itachi later and I'll let you know what he says."

That was everyone's queue for a timely _"Yesss!"_ And a few fist bumps. Remembering that Himiko had not given an answer yet, Sakura turned to her.

"So, you coming along Himiko?"

"Yea, sure, why not?"

She grinned back at the pink haired girl, starting to feel excited about the event already.

Sot it was a plan then. They would all get together on Friday night and stay over in Sasukes' house. They had not planned exactly what they were going to do, but seeing as it was Tuesday they had then next few days to think of some ideas.

* * *

**Thank you for reading :)**

**I hope to get another chapter out as soon as I can, but I'm not sure when that will be so in the meantime, thank you for any favs, follows and reviews until I get the next chapter up. :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Well I'm back with another Chapter; I'm sorry it took so long to get out, but alas it is now up. Thank you to anyone who has favorited or followed this story it is much appreciated and Im glad that ya'll like it so far. **

**As always I do not own anyone or thing from the Naruto Universe, just my OC Himiko. With that said, ENJOY! **

* * *

Chapter 5: Gossips...Gossips Everywhere

The next few days had gone by reasonably quick. Himiko had really gotten to know everyone better and became close with Sakura and Temari in particular. Even Sasuke was being friendlier and they would have the occasional conversation at lunch or whenever he'd come over after school. All the plans were set in place for the sleepover, they just had to wait for confirmation that they were actually allowed to go through with their arrangements.

"How typical of Sasuke to wait to the last possible minute..."

Neji sighed in half disgust as he walked down the corridor with TenTen and Himiko in tow, headed for the first class of the day which was Math. Tenten caught on to his snide comment and rolled her eyes at him.

"Well it shouldn't matter to you; I thought you weren't going anyways."

She smirked as he looked away from them quickly as if trying to dismiss the subject. She poked him in the arm a few times as they walked until he finally gave up his 'moody' act and answered her.

"I wasn't sure if I was going to go, I suppose it'll all be for nothing if Sasuke doesn't even ask Itachi about it."

Queue Himiko's Persuasive Skills ~

"Oh don't worry; I'll make sure he'll ask before schools over."

She said calmly as they entered the classroom and took their seats, Tenten choosing to sit in between the two.

Neji, still unconvinced that there would even be a sleep over, cocked his head to the side and gave a skeptical look to the Himiko as she sat beside him.

Himiko took this as a challenge, she would drag sasuke around until they found Itachi if she had to. She can be very persuasive when she needs to be: however she didn't think it would be very effective on Neji...

"Trust me, there's going to be a sleep over: I'll make sure Sasuke asks him at lunch...okay?"

She said, still trying to convince him.

* * *

Lunch time came very quick for himiko as she made her way to the lunch hall with Sakura, Lee, Tenten and Hinata. They walked in to the large room, looking to see who was already at the table.

_Temari, Naruto, Kankuro...Sai, Choji...but no Sasuke.._

She thought, looking around to see if he was here yet. She spotted him at the end of the queue on the other side of the hall, waiting to get his food with Kiba.

She approached them, grabbing a tray for herself and stood behind them in the que. They noticed her presence and turned around to greet her.

"Hey Himiko!"

Kiba said enthusiastically as she waved slightly at them, smiling.

"Hey guys, what are you getting?"

She said trying to get a conversation going.

"The line for the cooked foods too long, so where just going to get a sandwich"

Sasuke informed, as the queue shortened and they moved closer to the shelves displaying a variety of different sandwiches. Himiko nodded in agreement.

"Plus, whatever it is their serving, it looks nasty…"

Kiba added, his face covered in disgust as he referred to the dodgy looking pasta that gave off a strange smell that could only be described as 'burnt with a hint of mold.'

_Yea, it does look a bit weird.. I couldn't even say what its meant to be..._

Himiko thought to herself as they moved further up the queue.

They got their sandwiches and Kiba went ahead of them to the table. Himiko took this as the opportunity to put her plan into action.

"So, Sasuke.."

She started, as they slowly made their way to the table at the back of the hall.

"When are you gonna ask Itachi about the sleepover? I mean its meant to be today."

He looked over to her, she could tell he was trying to avoid the subject by the look on his face.

"...I don't know if it's a good idea Himiko, we had an argument this morning I doubt he'll say yes."

"Well, how about I go with you to ask? He wouldn't say no if im there, would he?"

She was sure he wouldn't, if one of his friends was there he wouldn't want to sound mean. And she would out her two cents in to try and convince him if he did say no.

"…I suppose not."

He replied, still not percent sure on the idea.

"We can go ask after we eat our lunch. Where do you think hell be?"

She continued as she was certain she hadn't seen him around the lunch hall before…Or anywhere in school for that matter…

"Yea okay, he has his lunch out in the courtyard with his friends."

The two sat down at the table with everyone else, and seeing as there were only two seats left they sat together. Himiko told everyone of their plan and they continued eating their lunch, agreeing it would be best if the two of them went.

* * *

Sasuke and Himiko walked side by side as they made their way out to the courtyard. Neither of them said a word as they approached the wooden tables that the large group of seniors occupied.

They talked amongst themselves untill they noticed the pair walking towards them. A boy with long blond hair looked over to them before addressing Itachi, who until that moment had not noticed them.

"Itachi, your brothers here...I think he wants to talk to you."

He whispered to the raven haired senior beside him. He looked up towards the two as they approached, noticing that he did not recognise the white haired girl that was wth him.

Sasori had also noticed the pair and took the opportunity to stir up some trouble.

"He looks pissed, you better not add fuel to the fire Itachi, I had to witness all crap that earlier..."

He leaned over the table to whisper, making sure that the other didn't hear.

As if on que the two stopped at the table in front of Itachi and his band of friends. Sasuke had picked up on the whispers among his brother's friends.

_These guys are like a bunch of gossiping old women. Don't they have anything better to talk about?_

He thought to himself as he rolled his eyes at Sasori; the only one who would even look at him. A mischievous smirk grew on the seniors face as he eyed up the girl beside him. It was at this moment that Sasuke remembered that Himiko was here too.

Sasori spoke up again, still eyeing up Himiko as she looked back at him, her brow furrowed slightly. She found his gaze, or stare, quite creepy.

"Itachi…your darling little brothers here. Be nice okay, you don't want to embarrass him in front of his new girlfriend"

He snickered as the two blushed simultaneously. A few of the others chuckled, but Itachi took no notice, knowing that Sasori was purposely trying to cause trouble.

"I have to say you move on quickly Sasuke, I mean do you even know her name or does that even matter to you?"

Sasuke tried to keep his cool as he addressed the senior, while himiko kept quiet (all the while giving him the red head a powerful glare)

"She's not my girlfriend, either way it's none of your business Sasori."

He grew more confident as he came up with his comeback.

"Anyway, don't you have anything better to do than starting shit with lowerclassmen? I thought Naruto thought you a lesson the last time he kicked your ass?"

Sasoris smug look instantly turned to a snarl as Sasuke brought up his fight with Naruto. The red head suddenly rose up in his seat, about to retort until Itachi swiftly interfered.

"...Is this really nessicary? Sasuke what have come to talk to me about?"

He turned his attention to his younger brother as Sasori stood down from his defensive stance.

Sasuke bit his lip remembering why he was here, and realising that he had gotten too caught up in the argument that would probally lesson his chances of Itachi agreeing to the sleepover. He took a breath to calm himself before voicing his proposal. All the while Himiko stood beside him, not saying a word as she was observed by the group of seniors.

"Would it be okay if I invite a few friends round to stay the night in our house? You'll be out tonight so..."

He trailed off as he waited for his brothers response. Itachi paused for a few moments, taking in his brothers words before speaking up.

He looked up at Himiko for the first time since her arrival wit Sasuke, she looked straight back at him with a blank expression and he looked back to his brother.

"How many? And I hope you're not going to invite loads of girls Sasuke-"

He began to say before Himiko interrupted and spoke for the first time.

"There won't be many at all, and there's only going to be a few girls - it's not like that"

Despite being cut off mid sentence, Itachi nodded his head in response to her words and came to his conclusion. He smiled slightly, still looking at Himiko but addressing his brother as he spoke.

"Okay, I suppose it wouldn't hurt. But it better not get out of hand, you know what happened last time."

Himiko took in the expression on the elder brothers face as he spoke to Sasuke, unsure of why he was smiling. He turned back to face his friends and Sasuke muttered to the back of his brothers head.

"Yea I know..."

He then looked to himiko, signaling that it was their time to leave. She nodded and they made their way out of the courtyard and back towards the lunch hall.

"God I hate that guy..."

Sasuke muttered darkly, as soon as they were out of the seniors hearing range.

"Which one? The red haired guy?"

She guessed, not sure who he was referring to.

"...Yea him. He thinks he so high and mighty, I wish Igot a few hits in when Naruto was beating the shit out of him."

Himiko could sense the anger in his voice, she felt it best to calm him down before he broke something. She lightly put a hand in his shoulder as they continued to walk, feeling him relax slightly from her touch.

"It's alright man, karma will catch up in him soon enough. Always does."

The bell rang for the end of lunch just as they approached the doors to the hall. They quickly went in and grabbed their bags before saying a quick goodbye and heading their separate ways.

As himiko walked down the hall to her next class, her thoughts wondered to the red headed senior that Itachi was friends with. Sasori, if she remembered correctly.

_Man that guys an asshole... But now I think about it, I'm not surprised Naruto ended up in a fight with him. Hes trouble for sure..._

* * *

**Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed! :) **

**I should be back with another Chapter soon enough so hopefully this one will do in the meantime. **

**Any reviews etc are appriciated as it lets me know that you guys are liking it so far. **


	6. Chapter 6 (Part 1)

**Chapter 6: Sleepover Time!**

**Well, I got this one out a lot faster than I thought it would. Ive really got back into writing this fanfic and I'm on a roll again. :) **

**Thank you to anyone who has fav'ed or followed recently, it is much appriciated. **

**As always, I do not own anything or anyone from the Naruto universe, just my OC Himiko and the plot to this fanfic. **

**I also do not own any Films/Music etc that is refferenced to in any of the chapters. **

**(also appologies for any bad language in this chapter and the others to come)**

**ENJOY! :) **

* * *

(Part 1: Scary Movies and Scarier Conversations)

The last few classes of the day went slowly, but at last it was time to go home. Seeing as Sasuke was their usual ride home, Himiko and Naruto decided to walk as to give him some time.

They walked along the busy road, caught up in conversation.

"So you met Sasori?"

Naruto started, walking close beside her. Sasuke had told him of their encounter earlier on, explaining what had happened.

"Yea, if first impressions were anything to go by I'd say he's a dick."

Himiko said back chuckling slightly, shaking her head as she remembered the mischievous smirk that the red head wore on his face.

"Well you've got that one right"

Naruto chucked along with her.

"How did you end up fighting him anyway?"

She asked, entirely not surprised that it happened now that she knew what he was like.

"It's a long story... But he deserved what he got..."

Naruto trailed off, looking away as they crossed the busy street.

"Well I've got time for long stories, honestly...how did he get you angry enough to kick off?"

They looked at each other, a serious expression suddenly covering the blondes' face.

"Well he's always been an asshole but... A few weeks ago the guys (and girls) got together at the ramen shop, Itachi and a few of his friends came along too. Most of those guys are alright, but Sasori is one of those people you can only take in small doses."

Himiko nodded, very much agreeing with his last statement.

"Anyway, he got a bit too cocky and started outright flirting with Hinata. He was being really creepy and I could tell she was uncomfortable so i told him to knock it off. But he didn't take it well and tried to start on me. We got thrown out of the ramen shop when we started arguing so we took the matter outside...he threw a punch at me, but I made him pay for it. Suffice it to say he ended up worse after everything went down."

He finished of the story, remembering that night with a triumphant smile.

"You know I wouldn't have reckoned you for a fighter Naruto, but then again I haven't seen you for a good while."

Himiko mused as they approached the familiar gates to their house.

Jiriya was working late again so they left a note on the kitchen table that they would be out for the night and not to bother with cooking any dinner for them. They added to the note that they were at Sasuke's, just in case he needed to call or anything.

After packing a few things into their bags, Hiniko and Naruto left the house again and headed towards on one of the shops down the road to get some snacks for the night ahead before making their way to Sasuke's.

By the time they got their, Itachi was pulling out of the driveway in his car, leaving Sasuke standing in the doorway with an annoyed expression plastered on his face. He cheered up a bit when he noticed the two in the distance and greeted them from the doorway as they approached.

"You guys are here early…As you can see Itachi has just left."

He said gesturing his hand in the direction the car had went with a slight snarl on his face. They had been arguing again after Itachi had a go at him about what happened earlier.

The others took no notice of this and walked towards the front door of the house where Sasuke was standing.

"Yea we know, but we thought we'd help you set food out and stuff like that."

Himiko beamed with excitement for the night to come, it was great to have made so many friends so quickly (with the help of Naruto of course), and they were really nice people who she felt she fit in with.

Bring her back to reality, Sasuke turned and entered the house beckoning them to come in too.

Himiko could barley keep her eyes in her head as she admired the lavish decor of the Uchiha household. The outside of the house looked relatively normal, but the inside was another matter all together. Stylish black and white wallpaper plastered the walls of the large livingroom and expensive burgundy sofas sat at either sides of the room. There was also collection of beautiful glass ornaments set out on the various shelves around the room.

The house didn't look like it was even lived in, it was immaculate.

_Surly this level of organisation couldn't be possible in a house of two teenage boys...its impossible..._

She thought as she looked around, unsure of what to say.

Naruto seemed used to it and made himself at home, however Himiko stood around awkwardly, afraid that she would break something, or more specifically one of the many glass objects around her.

_This place is gonna be a wreck tomorrow, now I understand why Itachi was hesitant to agree to this._

Sasuke picked up on her strange behaviour, waving a hand in front of her face to finally catch her attention.

"You alright there Himiko?"

He said confused and slightly worried as she just stood there in the middle of the living room like some sort of statue.

She snapped out of it and looked at him, a light blush on her face from embarrassment as she hadn't realized how long she was daydreaming for.

"Yea, fine...so whens everyone else coming over?"

She questioned, trying to change the subject while looking around the room once more.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, still not fully convinced, but let it go and went along with the new topic.

"They should be here soon... come on lazy I thought you were gonna help me?"

* * *

He said turning to Naruto who had made himself confortable on one of the sofas across the room.

Soon enough everyone was here. Kiba, Tenten, Temari, Sakura, Hinata, Lee, Shikamaru, Sai, Choji, Gaara and even Neji decided to come too (though he was trying his best to look unhappy about being there).

The girls all went out to get more snacks for the night as the ones Himiko and Naruto had bought were not nearly enough. The guys all pitched in to grab a load of blankets and pillows and pile them into the living room. It didn't take them long to do that and they soon got bored waiting for the girls to come back. Choji had already eaten his way through most of the snacks that Naruto had bought as they sat around the livingroom thinking of something to do.

Lee could not stand the silence any longer and felt he had to say something.

"So what are we going to do? I know we have a load of movies, but that's not all were going to do right?"

He said, the silence continued before he grew impatient. He thought of what else they could do and suddenly cam up with a plan.

"I know! We cab play spin the bottle, or truth or dare!"

This finally gained a reaction from them, though not the one he had expected...

A few of them just outright laughed whilst the rest groaned, Gaara being the most outspoken of them all.

"Jees lee, spin the bottle is so cheesy. Were not in some angsty teenage movie..."

He said shaking his head, arms folded and looking generally disappointed in him. Although he couldn't really blame him, they did need to think of something.

"You sound like such an old man... but you have a point gaara."

Kiba pipped in from his position on the floor at the other side of the room.

After observing the conversation between the others, Sai decided to join in too.

"Perhaps, but I think Lee just wants to get closer to the girls. They love that sort of stuff."

Lee turned bright red and shook his head violently, denying Sai's accusations. The others chuckled and teased him. Naruto even join in with a few high pitched 'OoOo's to add to the teasing.

"That is not true, it was just a suggestion."

Growing more embarrassed, Lee folded his arms across his chest and huffed. He looked away from the others as he tried to regain the natural color of his face again.

The girls came in a few seconds later with their bags of various snacks, confused by the ruckus they heard from the livingroom.

"What are you guys doing now?"

Saukra questioned as she set a bag down on the living room table, suspicion lining her face.

"Oh Nothing…"

The boys all said in unison, trying to blow off the situation completely. Lee had just rejoined the group, seeing as they all stopped with the teasing.

* * *

Once they all got settled down, they each grabbed a bowl (or in Choji's case 2 or 3) of food and sat somewhere on the floor. They had all eventually agreed on the movie that they were going to watch first; Annabel. Although it seemed Neji was the only one to complain.

"It's still light bright outside and we're watching a horror film; where is the tradition here?"

Neji groaned from his position on the floor, snack bowl in hand.

A few of the others piped up in agreement as they realised that he was right.

"Well why don't you close the curtains and it'll be dark then?"

Shikamru shot back sarcastically, rolling his eyes as he adjusted his position on the floor. Temari sat beside him and chuckled at the pointless bickering between the two.

Himiko rolled her eyes as she observed the comments being shot back and forth between Neji and Shikamaru. Deciding that she's had had enough she got up from her position on the floor and made her way to the window at the back of the room.

"It's okay guys I'll close the curtains... Don't need a fight breaking loose here."

The pair suddenly quieted down as they watched her walk past them and towards the window, but not before Neji would get the last word in.

"See, it's sorted now..."

With one swift tug at the curtains, they were closed and the room was overcome with darkness. After a few timely and rather ghostly "OOoOOo"s from Naruto and Kiba the atmosphere had lightened up once more, filling the room with an array of chuckles and sniggers.

Himiko sat back down on the floor in between Gaara and Sasuke, pulling the blankets around her and relaxing again. Naruto was in charge of putting the movie on and did so once everyone had settled back down again.

Himiko couldn't help but look over to the side as she felt Sasuke shift beside her. She observed his face as the TV dimly lit up the room, making his features more visible. He stared blankly at the screen with his eyebrows furrowed slightly. As far as she knew he was okay up until now, but she could tell that there was something on his mind.

Himiko observed him for a few more seconds before the tense atmosphere of the movie came to an abrupt climax; making everyone in the room jump in their seats. The movie had also caught her of guard and she flinched in her position, snapping out of her previous trance like state.

She focused back on the movie and tried to take in exactly what was going on, now that she was paying attention. Although she couldn't help but feel like she was being watched, not because of the nature of the movie, it was something else entirely.

She took her eyes away from the screen for a second and focused back on the Person beside her, who she now realised was looking at her.

He narrowed his eyes for a second as if to question her before someone else spoke up.

"You're not scared, are you Himiko?"

Gaara joked from the other side of her; chuckling under his breath...It appears he noticed her flinch too.

Himiko looked over at the red head with his smug expression and scoffed.

"Me? Come on Gaara, I don't get scared that easily."

She joked back, nudging him slightly with her elbow as she relaxed again and focused back on the movie.

Everyone decided to chip in for a pizza at the end of the film and pig out for a while before thinking of their next movie.

Himiko, Temari and Hinata helped to clear up some of the mess by taking the empty snack bowls out to the kitchen so that there would be more room when the pizza arrived. The others repositioned their blankets and took turns going into the bathroom to change into their pyjamas.

After setting the last few bowls in the sink, Himikoalso took her turn to go get changed. She exited the bathroom shortly after, wearing her maroon and navy polka dot shorts and matching t-shirt, opting to have her hair tied up into a messy bun at the top of her head.

The others had all gathered back into the living room, all but a few strays who wandered out to the kitchen to talk and grab some more food in the meantime. Now that it was calm again, Himiko took the opportunity to take a breather and go outside whilst everyone was waiting for the pizza to arrive.

She stepped out the back door from the kitchen into the cool night air. She took a deep breath in and closed her eyes, leaning against the brick wall behind her and letting the cold sensation run up her legs from her bare feet on the ground.

It was then that she realised she wasn't alone, the all too familiar voices of her friends suddenly rung through her ears and she was once again brought back to reality. Her eyes shot open as Naruto's loud voice became apparent to her senses.

"Seriously man what's up with you? You've been acting weird all day - all week never mind?"

She looked around expecting to see her spiky haired friend but there was no sign of him, she had also realised that he was addressing someone other than her. Himiko stood there for another few seconds before the reply to Naruto's initial question was voiced.

"Look - it's nothing, nothing's wrong okay."

The impatient and slightly shaky voice of Sasuke suddenly spoke up after a few moments of silence. Even without being able to see him, Himiko was not so sure about his insistence of "nothing being wrong".

And apparently neither was Naruto as he instantly replied, his voice telling all of his disbelief.

"Sasuke if anyone would notice, do you not think it would be me? I don't care what it is, just tell me,"

The blonde was met with a sigh as his only response.

Silence filled the air once again and the atmosphere seemed to grow colder for the few seconds that passed. All the while neither of them had noticed Himiko standing just around the corner from them. If she was honest, she didn't even know why she was still standing there herself, it was as if said she was frozen there.

She gathered herself and turned to leave, about to pull down on the handle of the door before a sudden outburst on Sasuke's behalf kept her firmly in her place.

"Its Karin..."

He started, voice masked in regret and half disgust.

"Karin?..."

Naruto repeated, a form of knowingness becoming evident in his voice.

"Yea...you know how I've been keeping my distance from her; well she called me the other day saying all this stuff and... I don't know..."

Sasuke stopped himself mid sentence, struggling for words.

_Karin?... Who's that?  
_  
Himiko wondered to herself as she slowly took her hand away from the door handle.

"What did she say to you Sasuke?"

Naruto's voice had become increasing more serious. Himiko could tell even from her distance that Sasuke was hesitant to give his answer, but it had come far quicker than she had expected.

"She rang me the other day after practice and said that she misses me; what we had together, and that she still has feelings for me."

His sentence stopped rather abruptly, Himiko has sensed that he didn't want to say too much, for whatever reason, despite his somewhat annoyed tone of voice.

"And what did you say then?"

Naruto questioned calmly, inviting him to give some more details about the situation.

Himiko didn't quite understand why Naruto was so interested in the whole thing, she was quite surprised as she had never known him to pry or ask things out of nosiness.

She didn't entirely know what to think of the whole situation. She didn't even know why she was still listening...She didn't even know who this "Karin" girl was either.

And she didn't anticipate what Sasuke's reply would be to that either.

* * *

**And thats it for part one of Chapter 6 :)**

**As you've guessed there will be a second part to this chapter and it will be up as soon a possbile, I might even suprise you all and get it out very soon who knows. XD**

**But anyway thank you for reading and I hope you have enjoyed so far! :) x **


	7. Chapter 6 (Part 2)

**Chapter 6: Sleep over time!**

**A quick thank you to any favs, follows and reviews that have happened in the last while, it means a lot so thank you guys! :)**

**Im back to the rutine of school work again, so the next few chapters might be slow progress (just incase i dont update for a while).**

**As per usal, I do not own anyone or anything from the Naruto universe just my OC Himiko.**

**I also do not own any Films/Music etc that is refferenced to in any of the chapters.**

**...And ENJOY! :)**

* * *

(Part 2: Serious talks)

"I told her I couldn't do it"

Sasuke sighed, finally admitting to his blonde haired friend who only seemed to grow more and more serious as the seconds passed.

"And rightly so, Sasuke it was bad enough the first time...for God sake she's my cousin."

He became angry, a form of knowingness appearing once again in the tone of his voice.

_Wait, what..._

Himiko thought to herself as the agrument continued around her.

"It's not even about that Naruto-"

Sasuke defended, finding that he was cut off mid sentence. Their argument had become more heated by this point and Himiko once again turned towards the door, feeling that she had heard enough.

"No what it's about is that she's my cousin - my family, and you cheated on her. Alright she threw herself at you but you treated her like she was dirt."

Himiko looked at her reflection in the glass part of the door; an expression of blind confusion stared back.

_What is going on?... This is so messed up._

She was almost convinced this was some sort of messed up dream, but alas, she knew better than that.

It was at this point that Sasuke lost it, outright anger radiating from his voice.

"That's not fair and you know it Naruto!"

He bellowed through gritted teeth.

Himiko had had enough, she had intruded enough, so she opened the door and started to go back inside, but not before hearing the disheartened voice of Naruto behind her, coming closer and closer.

"Yes it's not fair but you didn't treat her fair either..."

She wasn't half in the door before she felt his presence behind her, she turned her head slightly to look at him and she was met with cold eyes and fiery expression of his face.

All she could do was stare as he swiftly manoeuvred past her and into the house without a word, not even a sound. She stood there for another few seconds before remembering that Sasuke was still outside after all of that.

Himiko turned around to see him standing there in the backyard, hands balled into fists as the wind grew more frequent around him. He looked straight at her for a few moments before tearing his eyes away and looking down at the ground in defeat.

She didn't know what to say, what do even. She had never seen either of them like this before. All she knew is she had to do something, they were both her friends after all.

Himiko gathered herself and opened the door further, the creaking caused Sasuke to look up at her once more. She gave a sympathetic smile as she stood in the doorway, hand firmly gripped on the cold metal handle,

"Come on... I think the pizzas here."

Himiko's voice shook slightly as she spoke, despite her attempts to keep calm. She was sure he was worse off than her after all that.

He squinted his eyes slightly as of to question her, on more than once level, but his face warmed as he realised that she was right, hearing the doorbell go off in the background.

He made his was towards the door slowly and they entered the house together, feeling out of place amongst the lively chatter between the others. There was no sign of Naruto, Himiko had came to the conclusion that he had left early - not wanting to concern the others with the matter and ruin their night too. Though it was more than likely that it was already ruined for Sasuke...

Not a word was spoken as the two made their way through the house and Sasuke took it upon himself to go and answer the door. Himiko left him to it and returned to the living room where everyone else had gathered.

"Hey Himiko, what's up with Naruto? He looked really pissed off and just left..."

Tenten asked as Himiko sat down on the sofa beside her. The brown haired girl looking genuinely concerned.

_Well it's not really my place to say..._

"Oh It's probably nothing, he'll be okay..."

She said trying to disguise her hesitation for confusion. All the while she was not entirely sure herself if he would be okay. Nor the less she didn't want to have everyone talking about it - the situation was bad enough as it was.

A few moments later Sasuke appeared in the door with a stack of pizza boxes and one again it seemed that the atmosphere had returned to normal. The conversations of those around her started to generate again and she started to relax once more, taking in the words of the red head beside her as he talked to the others.

" If you thought Annabel was creepy you should see Kankuro's puppet collection...man, don't know what the hell he even keeps those things for..."

A few of the others laughed along and Himiko emerged herself in the conversation.

"Speaking of Kankuro, why didn't he come tonight?"

Himiko inquired as the pizza boxes were being dished out one by one, Choji maded sure that he received all 3 of his orders, which naturally no one questioned.

"Oh,I think he already had plans out with Itachi and the others."

Temari added in from her position on the floor and the others nodded their heads in a sense of acknowledgement.

"I didn't know he was friends with the seniors..."

Himiko mused, surprised that she didn't already know as it seemed as if it had already been established with everyone else. Gaara turned in his position to face her as he revived his box of pizza.

"He's only friends with a few of them to be honest, he can only really stand Itachi, Konan and Nagano - the rest he doesn't really bother with."

"I think it's Nagato's birthday or something so he was invited along."

Temari added in.

With the mention of Itachi's name Himiko's thoughts had wondered back to Sasuke. She gave a quick nod to Temari before scanning the room to see where her black haired friend had went to.

She had noticed him standing over by the door whilst talking to Sakura, a sense of distance radiated from him as he barely paid attention to what the pink haired girl was saying, not that he intended to be rude.

_I wonder if he's okay...I should probably talk to him later on if I get the chance..._

She thought to herself as she started to eat her pizza, now lost deep in thought.

Early morning crept in and was soon upon the group of teenagers' .after watching a few more movies they started to get tired and soon most of them were asleep. All the while Sasuke remained more quiet and distant than usual, though he still kept near Himiko for the rest of the night. Most of the others had not taken notice of Sasuke's behaviour and those who did tried not to draw any more attention to it, even though they were not fully aware of what had happened.

It was around 3 in the morning and neither Himiko nor Sasuke had fallen asleep yet. Himiko could see that he was tossing and turning in his position across from her, and even she couldn't help her restlessness. It was then that she heard the rustle of blankets and noticed Sasuke's from had risen from the floor and he slowly got up to make his way to the door.

_It must have really bothered him; I've never seen him act like this before..._

She mused to herself as she turned over to her side, sliding the blankets off as she debated on whether or not to go out and check on him.

_I could do with a drink of water about now, suppose I should check up on him, just in case..._

She decided as she got up from the floor and left the room, treading lightly as not to wake the others.

She made her way into the kitchen and Sasuke was nowhere to be found. Making her way over to the sink and taking a glass from the dish rack she made herself a drink and leaned against the kitchen counter.

She looked around the room and noticed the dull glow of the back garden light through the half open blinds. Knowing where he was, she finished her glass and made her way to the back door, pausing for a few moments before opening it half way to stick her head out.

She was met with a cold gust of wind and a view of the back of Sasuke's head as he sat on the edge of the wooden decking. Hearing the door open, he turned around to look at her still standing half in the doorway.

"Can't sleep?"

She said as she stepped out into the cold night air and sat down beside him. He nodded his head slowly before letting out a deep sigh.

"Nah... What about you?"

"Nope me neither..."

She replied as she gave him a half hearted smile.

A few minutes passed as they say in silence, the breeze of the wind making himikos White hair whip around the sides of her face. She tucked as few strands behind her ear before the ending her head slightly to face him.

"About earlier..."

Himiko trailed, unsure of how to finish the sentence. Sasuke picked up on her hesitation and looked over to her, their eyes meeting.

"How much of that did you hear?"

He inquired; a hint of embarrassment in his words as he spoke. He tore his eyes away from hers and looked off into the distance as he waited for her reply.

"...Just about everything."

A few moment past in silence before suddenly he turned towards her again, a completely different look in his eyes than before.

"Look I know it sounds bad but it's a really complicated story. Not that I'm saying Naruto's in the wrong, but..."

He stopped mid sentence as if he didn't know how to finish.

"I never intended things to happen the way they did...it just got out of hand and..."

He stopped again, struggling to find words before sighing once more.

"...You don't need to hear it anyway, I should probably be saying this to Naruto instead but he's so stubborn...if it's something he doesn't want to hear then he just shuts off."

He looked down at his hands and balled them into fists as Himiko observed him carefully.

"I suppose your right, he is stubborn...but I still think this needs to be talked out. Try to talk it out with him at least before you talk to that girl, you have been friends for a long time as far as I know and that should mean something."

She spoke up and he took her words into account.

"...And if you ever need anyone to talk to Sasuke, because I know how Naruto can be sometimes, you can always talk to me. Even if it's just to vent, it's good to get things off your chest."

She added before she stood up and slowly made her way back to the door. Sasuke stayed in his position but turned his head to look back at her before giving her a small smile.

" Yea...Thanks Himiko, I might take you up on that sometime."

She returned a warm smile before turning back to the door and going inside. She felt it best to leave him to think things through; she was starting to get really tired anyway.

It wasn't long before her exhaustion got the better of her and she finally fell asleep. She hadn't heard Sasuke return into the room yet, but she at least felt better that she had offered some help and advice.

Her thoughts then wondered to Naruto, and if he was okay, before drifting off into a much needed sleep.

* * *

**And thats it for chapter 6 part 2, oh the drama xD**

**Again, it might be a while till then next update but hopefully this chapter will do in the mean time. **

**Thank you for reading, I hope you have enjoyed so far! :) x **


	8. Chapter 7

**Sorry for the long delay in upating, I've been really busy lately with coursework etc But I'm back with another chapter! **

**Also, there is'nt too much going on in this chapter but things will be picking up again soon. :) **

**Thank you to anyone who followed/faved in the last while, it's much appriciated! **

**And as always I do not own anyone or thing from the Naruto Universe, just my OC Himiko.**

**ENJOY :)**

* * *

Chapter 7: Confusion with a hint of Suspicion...

By the time Himiko had woken up the next morning, most of the others were already up and starting to head home. Save for Shikamaru and Temari who were still asleep, cuddled up on one of the sofas at the far end of the room.

She made a mental note to tease them later on about that...

As she slowly threw the blankets off herself and got up from the floor, Sasuke came to an abrupt awakening beside her. Only then did she realise that her blankets had landed on top of him when she threw them off of herself.

"...Sorry."

She whispered, trying to hold back a giggle as she noticed that the blanket had covered half of his face, only revealing one eye that had shot open instantly as she made her quiet apology.

She carefully pulled her blankets away from his face and threw them in the other direction, making sure they didn't land on anybody else. The black haired teen sat up a few seconds later looked over to her, still groggy from being woken up a mere moment ago.

"Don't worry about it..."

He rubbed his eyes as he spoke, seemingly in a better mood than yesterday - which was good considering the circumstances.

She smiled lightly at his reply as she watched him rid himself of the last traces of sleep on his face.

All of a sudden Himiko felt a strange, yet familiar flutter from her chest - if it could even be described as that . She quickly looked away from Sasuke as she got back up again and made her way out to the hallway.

It seemed that Sasuke had not noticed her sudden exit so she took the opportunity to go and get washed and dressed.

Himiko let her thoughts wonder as she let the sink full up with water. She watched the translucent liquid swirl continuously around the basin, a sudden sense of absence present in her features as an array of thoughts invaded her mind.

_I wonder how __Naruto is__ doing__?...__this is none of my business, why am I so concerned?...and __Sasuke, what was__ that __just now__?...everything's so messed up__..._

A sudden knock at the door interrupted her train of thoughts, bringing her back to reality.

"Himiko are you in there?"

She turned towards the door as if expecting to see someone standing there. Once she registered the voice from behind the door she furrowed her brows in confusion.

"...Naruto?"

"Of course it's me, who else would it be?"

He chuckled humorously, the polar opposite of the last time she had seen him (or heard...)

"I'll be out in a minute."

She answered, turning back to the sink and washing her face quickly.

"I'll wait in the living room for you."

His faint reply was heard in the background as Himiko continued to get ready.

She had packed her black leggings and a random pair of converse that conveniently matched the off shade of white that her long sleeve T shirt she packed was. She quickly put on a black choker and applied a minimal amount of makeup to cover the obvious signs that she had been up late last night. As for hair, she simply brushed it and put it back into the same style of messy bun that she wore the night before.

She soon exited the bathroom to find Naruto sitting quietly on one of the large red sofas in the living room. He sat on the edge of the seat as if he was uncomfortable being there, despite his calm demeanour. The room was completely cleared of any sign of a sleep over and Sasuke was nowhere to be seen. It all seemed a bit odd, as if everything from last night hadn't even happened.

"You ready to go then?"

Naruto spoke, looking up at Himiko as he played with his hands. She was stood in front of him as she tried to examine the expression on his face, she couldn't quite figure it out though, so she simply smiled and let it go.

"Yea, you lead the way. I still don't know my way home from here..."

She chuckled to herself, lightening the mood slightly as she earned a grin from her blonde haired friend.

"Jeez you'd reckon that you'd know by now, but apparently not."

He joked as he got up, the two then slowly made their way to the door.  
As they approached their exit, Shikamaru made his way down the hall.

"You guys heading home then?"

He smiled at the two, noticeably still half asleep.

"Yea, will you tell Sasuke for me?"

Himiko smiled back politely as she stood in the doorway. Naruto was already outside and seemed to be waiting in the driveway.

"Okay I'll tell him, see you in school Himiko."

"See you."

She waved before closing the door behind her before making her way out to the front garden where naruto stood to wait on her.

As the two made their way out of the large garden, the roar of a car engine caught their attention as Itachi's black and red sports car pulled up in the driveway. Himiko glanced over to see the older Uchiha brother looking back at her from the driver's seat. The engines roar came to an abrupt halt and he slowly opened the car door and stepped out. All the while he continued to look directly at her, and she felt his gaze as she turned away from both him and the car.

He approached the pair and smiled politely.

"Hello Naruto, and...?"

He greeted, turning to look at Himiko once more to ask for her name in a way that could only be described as gentlemanly.

She grew nervous under his gaze, not that he was scary, but there was just something about him, the way he carried himself...

Before she could catch herself Naruto had cut in and brought her back to the topic at hand.

"This is Himiko, she's just moved back to Konoha to stay. She's a family friend."

"You're a Sayugi right? Your father used to do business with my family's Company a while back...Yes, my fathers personally invested in helping his Business expand into Suna..."

Himiko simply nodded to in response to his question, an unsure look on her face.

The Uchiha pursed his lips as he recalled things about the Sayugi family that Himiko did'nt even know herself.

"Ah I see, you're the girl that was with Sasuke when he asked me about the sleep over...yes, I've heard about you before, he's mentioned you quite a few times in fact."

His comment had caught her off guard and the older boys face lit up as he spoke, knowing that he would get a reaction. She blushed slightly out of nervous habit and Naruto started to chuckle in the background.

_Well, at least __he's__ back to normal__..._

She thought to herself as she inwardly cringed, not knowing what to say...

"Yea, I thought it was best to go too -for backup..."

She spoke shyly as she purposely avoided his last statement.  
But alas, his smirk only continued to grow.

"Yes, it's always good to have backup from friends."

At this point a set of loud, forcefully produced coughs were voiced before everyone turned around to see Sasuke standing in the doorway with his arms folded, leaning against the door frame. A mix of annoyance and sarcasm was plastered on his face.

"Itachi, are you done?"

The older Uchiha brother naturally played the innocent and raised his eyebrows in confusion.

"Me? I was just being polite and acquainting myself with your new friend."

He held back a smirk as he made his way towards the door, but not before he took one last glance in Himiko's direction to see her reaction.

She was beetroot red by this point, though she couldn't help but hold back a giggle at the whole situation. Naruto on the other hand had gone quiet again seeing as Sasuke had joined the conversation. His facial expression changed dramatically in a matter of seconds, with his body language following suit.

It as then that Himiko decided it was best to leave before any more drama broke loose. She waved goodbye to the two brothers quickly before she and Naruto resumed their journey back home and leaving the Uchihas's driveway.

"Bye."

Sasuke called after her as Itachi waved in the background, still smirking from ear to ear. Naruto had not said a word and kept walking, his behaviour a clear indication that he was still irate about his current predicaments. 

After a good ten minutes of silence it seemed that he had returned back to normal and looked over to her, smiling slightly.

For a few moments she studied Naruto features carefully as they walked, in no way convinced of his somewhat forced smile. She knew he was putting on a front for her and that's what made her worry. As far as she had known him, he was never one for keeping things in or hideaway his thoughts and feelings. She had never seen him this guarded before.

"So how did it go, did you have fun?"

She smiled back absently as her thoughts wondered, bringing her back to the topic of the argument.

"For the most part yes, although I'd say it went less than well for you. Are you alright...after all that I mean?"

A look of concern grew on her face as she finally voiced her worries. He smiled back at her with a hint of sadness in his eyes, the same that she had seen from him just the night before.

"I mean yea, best friends will fight as they always will, but that was something else. It'll probably be resolved in time but it still stands as somewhat of an open wound for the time being..."

He mumbled, a regrettable tone being made evident as he spoke. Silence filled the atmosphere once again before he spoke up once more.

"You don't know the whole story so it's probably a bit confusing to you...I thought it was done with but...it's just hard when things happen like that..."

The blonde drifted in and out of speech as his thoughts wondered.

He suddenly cleared his throat as they approached the house, his expression completely changing in that moment and suddenly he was back to his normal self.

"Sorry, I'm probably not making any sense right now. It doesn't matter anyway."

He chuckled and scratched the back of his head nervously.

Himiko raised an eyebrow in doubt to his words, however she felt it best not to say anything, After all it didn't involve her in any way. She would let it go this time, but there was no doubt about it- there was more to this than she initially thought.

"Okay..."

She smiled back and the two entered the house only to be greeted with an overwhelming bear hug from Jiriya as if they had been gone for a substantial amount of time and the solitude had gotten to him...

It only it were true...Himiko had only left for the night, Naruto on the other hand was still there...

He's a weird one alright.

* * *

**Well it seems it's all doom and gloom for the time being...But will things get better? Perhaps they will...**

**I'll hopefully be back soon with another chapter for you lovely people but lastly,**

**Thank you for reading I hope you enjoyed! :) **


	9. Chapter 8

**Things are starting to pick up again in terms of writing yay! :)**

**So heres another chapter, which is hopefully a bit more interesting and upbeat than the last.**

**Also, thank you all for the favs and follows I've gained in the last while, it's much Appreciated.**

**And last of all, ENJOY! :)**

* * *

Chapter 8: Making Progress

The next few weeks that followed were mostly uneventful. Naruto and Sasuke had not spoken since and everyone else had heard of their fall out. No one was exactly sure of what was going on, but they knew better than to ask - neither of the two would care to explain anyway because they were too stubborn.

"What's up with Naruto and Sasuke lately? They've been acting really strange...you don't reckon it's something to do with that Karin girl do you? Every time someone even mentions her around them they get all tense..."

Tenten inquired as she and Himiko walked down the corridor on their way to their art class.

She had not been paying too much attention at first, as her thoughts wondered around what their next assignment would be in class. Although she had been brought back to reality when she heard mention of Karin's name.

And here's thinking the drama was staring to wear off...

"Whatever's going on between them it's probably best to just leave them too it, I for one don't want to be involved..."

She chuckled at the last part so as to lighten the mood and not sound too serious. Tenten smiled thoughtfully in response.

"Yea your right, those two are drama queens as it is but they'll work it out, they always do."

* * *

Elsewhere, in a history class on the other side of the school Sasuke sat tensely in his assigned seat next to Naruto.

The blonde had all but fallen asleep with his head turned away from his best friend. It was all too obvious that they were still on bad terms, to the point half the school knew about it. Well, not the exact reason but there was enough hearsay going around that they might as well have known. From time to time he would notice people's whispers asking what was going on, and each time someone would have a different story that was inconsistent with everyone else's version of events. Of course Sasuke was used to people speculating about everything that happened in his life but it still annoyed him when it came to situations like this.

Sasuke sighed deeply for what felt like the hundredth time in the short period of time that he had been sitting in the class. He was far beyond listening to the lecture at this point and all he knew was that Ms Yūhi had drawn a vague diagram pinpointing the milestones in some war that he could care less about.

He let his thoughts wonder as he drowned out the lesson that was being taught around him. Sighing once more and resting his head on his hand, his thoughts wondered to Himiko for what felt like the hundredth time that day.

_She was dragged into all of this by accident and she isn't even a part of it...damn it I thought all of this was over with, I broke up with Karin 4 months ago and it's still coming back to bite me in the ass..._

A sudden nudge from Kiba at his side brought him back to reality. He cocked his head to the side to look at him, brows furrowed in annoyance. He could almost guess what he had to say by the look on his face, Kiba was too predictable...

"Hey, what has you daydreaming? Is it Himiko I wonder...?"

He sniggered playfully at his own remark, though Sasuke was less than impressed The brunette brushed off his icy glare and continued on with his teasing.

"I mean I know you like her but come on, your acting like an angsty mess... If all the guys who liked her acted like that half the school would be stalking her whilst quoting Shakespeare or some crap."

Too caught up in his "witty" remarks, he forgot himself and had not noticed Naruto waken across from them. Clearly hearing what the brunette had to say Naruto's head shot up and he glared at both of them coldly.

"Kiba, will you shut up? Just because you two are practically gagging for it doesn't give you an excuse to talk about her like that. You wouldn't have the balls to say it to her face."

Kiba shrunk down in his seat and looked away in embarrassment as Naruto's naturally loud voice attracted more than a few people's attention in the class.

"...That was a low blow man..."

The brunette mumbled as he folded his arms and turned his attention back to the lesson. Sasuke hadn't spoke a word but kept his gaze on Naruto as the blonde adjusted back into his seat and put his head down on the table once more, mumbling something to himself quietly.

"What is wrong with you?"

His thoughts blurted out. Suddenly realising what he had just said he looked down at the desk to see Naruto's head rising from the desk once more out of the corner of his eye.

"Dude seriously you do not want to start on me right now-"

He began to answer before being abruptly cut off by Sasuke. He didn't care at this point; he had gone too far now to go back so he might as well express what he's thinking...

"Why are you acting so over protective like that?"

"Because she's like family to me, and I'm not gonna let you treat her like shit just-"

He became more irate as he spoke, although Sasuke swiftly cut him off once more.

"And you still persist in trying to make it about Karin, only now you're dragging Himiko into it too? It's nothing to do with her; they are two very different people."

Naruto furrowed his brows as he found he was cut off again. Half way through Sasuke's reply he simply rolled his eyes in irritation and laid his head back down on the desk for the final time in defeat. There was no use in talking to him, nothing got through to his thick skull.

"Alright, fine. But If you hurt her in any way I swear to god I'll hurt you, it's not happening again Sasuke."

He mumbled into the desk, trying to retain some form of restraint from going on some sort of a rampage.

The bell for the end of class rang shortly after that and Sasuke was the first to get the hell out of there, all he wanted at this point was to have all of this over with.

Well, at least they have had some form of conversation...even if it did consist of threats and generally heated words...it was a start at least...

* * *

The bell for lunch rang throughout the school, and soon enough the corridors were full of students making their way to the lunch hall. Amongst the crowd Himiko and Kankuro weaved past various people to get to their table at the back of the hall, trying not to drop their trays of food in the process.

Himiko found that she got on well with Kankuro - despite his pervy jokes from time to time...he was a very interesting person to say the least. I mean he owned a puppet collection for god sake, if that doesn't define the word interesting then nothing would.

The two had finally found their table of friends and took the two of the remaining seats beside each other. Naruto sat directly across from her, seemingly in a bad mood until she approached the table and smiled at him as she sat down.

"Himi-chan its, Jiriya's birthday soon. I was thinking of having a surprise get together for him, because you know he loves stuff like that."

Chuckling at the last part, he grinned at his genius idea.

"Yea that sounds great, who are you thinking of inviting?"

She replied before taking a bite out of her sandwich.

"Just some family, there won't be too many people but it will be good for you to meet them now your staying with us."

Himiko smiled thoughtfully as she thought to herself. It was kind of Jiriya to take her in like that, even after taking Naruto in too. She wasn't even sure who he was at the time but she was grateful nor the less. This could be a small way to say 'thank you' for all that he has does for her, for Naruto too...

"Yea that would be great, we should get a cake and stuff too, you know,to make it special."

"Yea we can start planning it when we get home, it's a plan then!"

He grinned from ear to ear, excitement sprawled across his face.

"I just wanna make it as good as possible, as a way to say thanks for putting up with me for all these years haha...I mean I had to put up with him too but we won't mention that part."

The two laughed in unison before going back to eating their food. The others chatted amongst themselves as well.

* * *

The rest of the day went by relatively fast it was soon time to go home. Seeing as Naruto and Sasuke were still on bad terms, Himiko and Naruto hadn't took their usual ride home with Sasuke. Instead they walked with Shikamaru, Temari and Gaara, seeing as they all lived nearby.

Himiko ceased the opportunity to put some of her teasing into play.

"So how are you two love birds doing today? I saw you had a good time at the sleepover."

Se giggled as the two blushed in unison. Gaara had noticed their embarrassment and joined in too.

"Oh yes, I remember that...scary movies tend to make one a little paranoid, so why not cuddle up with someone in case the worst happens? Totally understandable..."

He spoke, sarcasm dripping from every word as he gave Shikamaru a slight nudge.

The two 'love birds' in question kept silent as they walked, both sporting a colour of deep red across their faces.

"Ohhh, now I see what this is...you were using him as a shield in case Annabel comes back. That's good thinking right there Temari; why didn't I think of that."

Himiko, Gaara, Naruto and even Temari burst out into laughter, although Shikamaru was trying his best to keep a straight face whilst throwing a few sarcastic glares towards Himiko.

"What a drag...being a human shield for an evil doll, I feel so used."

Shikamaru smirked playfully as he directed his words to Temari. She giggled in response and smacked his arm playfully.

"Please, guys are meant to be all manly and protective when a girl is scared, whereas you just fall asleep."

The five of them chuckled in response as Shikamaru rolled his eyes and shook his head slightly.

"So hard to please, I was a human shield what more do you want."

"Oh yea I thought that was pretty manly, what you talking about Temari?..."

Naruto joined in as they all crossed the road together.

"Oh I'm sure haha."

Temari chuckled before her and Gaara's departure, leaving Naruto, Himiko and Shikamaru with a quick "see you tomorrow" and a wave as they crossed the street to their house. Shikamaru made sure to give Temari a hug and a kiss on the forehead before leaving. Gaara pulled a face in protest but neither of the two had noticed.

"Oh the affection...it gets to me."

Himiko joked, wiping an imaginary tear from her eye as the siblings left.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes once more in sarcasm as they continued to walk.

"But seriously you two are so cute together. I know I sound really cheesy but it's true."

"Himiko please, you're making the man blush."

Naruto added in a half sarcastic, half sympathetic tone.

"I'm just saying - relationship like that please."

She giggled at the last part before they reached their location (being Jiriya's bungalow). They each said their goodbyes before Himiko and Naruto made their way into the house.

Jiriya was in the kitchen making dinner as the smell of food was evident as soon as they got through the door. The faint sound of weird, jazz like music also played

in the background as Jiriya projected his unique methods of singing through the house.

Anyone else would have called it weird but even Himiko was used to it now, they just seen it as a sign he was in a good mood.

They made their presence known by bursting through the kitchen door in time with the music's beat. The three laughed in unison before Jiriya continued his culinary adventures.

Naruto and Himiko left him to it and decided that now would be the perfect time to organise the surprise party, seeing as Jiriya was more than distracted in his own world of jazz music and cookery books.

* * *

Later on that night, after they had began their plans, Himiko sat on the edge of her bed in silence. Naruto had tripped up over her rug on the way out of her room and almost destroyed their list of things to get. She had just calmed herself down after a laughing fit from seeing him fall into the door like that. He was so unintentionally funny sometimes...well, most of the time.

The silence that had just settled round her was broken as the irritatingly loud sound of the house phone ringing in the hall invaded her senses. Why was it that people always rang the house phone? Everyone in the house had their own cell phone anyway; it just seemed weird as pointless.

After realising that the phone was still ringing, Himiko stepped out to the hallway and reached for the phone that was located on a stand that was no more than an arm's length away from her door. She was convinced that she was the designated phone answerer at this point, as she was the only one who ever heard the phone ringing.

She picked the phone up, half expecting it to be one of Jiriya's weirdo friends that call at the most ungodly hours of the night to ask him about cake recipes. And yes, as weird as it is that has happened on multiple occasions.

"Hello?"

Himiko cleared her throat and spoke into the phone.

"Hey it's Sakura; sorry I forgot that I don't have your number so I had to phone the house number."

Sakura's soft voice spoke through the other end.

"Oh hey Sakura, how's things?"

Himiko's face lit up as soon as she realised who was on the other end. Admittedly she really liked Sakura, she hadn't spoken that much to her but she could tell that they would be good friends down the line.

"Oh nothing much, just thought I'd check up on you and have a gossip."

She giggled slightly on the other side of the phone.

"Yesss I think a gossiping session is in need, there's bound to be loads of stuff I don't know going around seeing as I'm still considered the new girl."

Himiko walked back into her room and closed the door shut. She realised how nosey she sounded right now but it was just some harmless fun...

"There's always something happening I'll tell you that haha. Did you hear about those seniors that got into a big fight outside of school? Oh my god it was like something out of smack down or something..."

"Oh my god, why were they fighting that's messed up."

"I'm not exactly sure to be honest but Diedara was telling me about it, apparently he had to pull Sasori out of the fight. No doubt it was something to do with him, he goes out looking for trouble with anyone, I'm telling you..."

"Yea I've met him once and I could already tell he's an asshole. But who's this Diedara person, I don't think I've met him."

Himiko inquired as she went to sit back down on the edge of her bed.

"He's one of Itachi's friends, you've probably seen him around. Long blonde hair, kinda looks like a girl?"

"Ohh yes him, I seen him before but I don't think I've talked to him though."

"He's a really nice guy, unlike some of those other Akatsuki guys."

Sakura beamed down the phone. And if Himiko didn't know any better she would say there was something behind those words, hmm...

"He's a really nice guy, is he? How do you know him?"

Himiko grinned knowingly from ear to ear, she was sure Sakura could tell too.

"He's...just a nice guy Yanno?"

Sakura spoke hesitantly, although she couldn't quite hold her ground.

"Spillllll!"

Himiko laughed knowing all too well something was going on there.

"Well there's nothing going on...I mean I kinda like him...but he's a senior how would that even work out..."

Sakura blurted out, her web of thoughts coming out all at once.

Yep, she defiantly likes him

Just as Himiko was about to answer, a loud knock at the front door broke her from her thoughts.

"Someone's at the door, I'll be right back."

Himiko got up and rushed to the door, although she took the phone with her so she wouldn't forget about Sakura.

She opened the front door to see a girl with long red hair, now seemingly drenched as Himiko realised it had been raining. Glasses framed her distinctive face; however they were falling half way down her nose. She's stared at Himiko as she stood in the doorway, eyes bloodshot.

"Is Naruto here I need to talk to him."

The girl's voice was hoarse and broke at points when she spoke.

Himiko had no idea who she was but she knew that they went to the same school as she had seen her in the corridors the odd time.

I wonder what's going on?

Himiko turned towards the inside of the house to check if anyone was around before calling out into the empty hallway for any sign of Naruto. With no answer she turned back to the girl who looked like death as she stood shivering in front of her.

"Would you like to come in, I'm-"

The girl brushed passed her and made her way into the house without a sound, a look of annoyance plastered on her face.

"-Sure he's around somewhere..."

Himiko continued, still standing in the doorway in slight shock.

Okay...

She quickly closed the door and walked down the hall to Naruto's room, knocking on the door before coming in.

The room was dark and the occasional snore came from the direction of the bed, which indicted he was sleeping.

In any case there was a girl waiting for him the living room so desperate times call for desperate measures...

Himiko ripped the blanket off the sleeping teen and he instantly woke up from the invasion of cold air around him.

"What the heck are you doing?!"

The blonde teen yelled out, still half asleep. He has been really moodily lately, with reason.

"There's a girl in the living room who said she needs to talk to you. I don't know who she is but she's been standing out in the rain so it must be important."

Naruto rubbed his eyes and picked up his cell phone that was placed on the nightstand beside him. After a few seconds of silence as he looked at his phone he looked up and sighed.

"6 missed calls, Karin..."

He got up slowly and made his way out of the room, clearly still half asleep and he didn't look one bit happy about it.

Well, now that that was over and done with she could go back to her phone call. That was if Sakura was still there after all that.

"Hey I'm back, sorry some girl was at the door looking for Naruto."

She sat back down on her bed with the phone against her ear.

"That's okay, who was it anyway?"

"I'm actually not sure, some girl with red hair and glasses..."

A few seconds of silence passed and Sakura groaned down the line.

"Karin, that's Karin."

Himiko's eyes widened in surprise. She didn't know why she didn't think of that in the first place, girls never call looking for Naruto...

"She said she needed to talk to him, she must have walked here she was soaked from the rain."

"I wonder what she wants to talk to him about, she's probably trying to get Naruto on her side and play the innocent little girl act again."

Sakura spat with hatred. Now it all made sense...

She was here to stir up trouble...Again.

* * *

**Thank you for reading I hope you have enjoyed this fanfic so far, there is plenty more to come :) x**


	10. Chapter 9

**Im back with another chapter, and I have to admit I got it out a lot faster than I expected to! :D **

**And also a quick appology or the odd occurance of bad language, but yanno xD**

**As per usual, I do not own anything or anyone from the Naruto universe, just my OC Himiko and any other OCs to pop up in the story. **

**And with that all said, ENJOY! :)**

* * *

Chapter 9: Surprise upon surprise

"Okay... So we have the decorations, the presents, the cake, and we've invited people so we know who will be here."

Himiko spoke out loud as she ticked off a list of preparations for the up and coming party that was less than 24 hours away.

She and Naruto sat on her bedroom floor with the various bags of decorations scattered around them.  
Now they needed a plan to get him out of the house to buy them some time...

"Okay, how about I take him to the mall and distract him for a while?"

Himiko spoke once more after a few moments of careful thinking.

"Yea, you can take him out to the mall and distract him by taking him for lunch as a birthday treat, he won't be able to resist that."

The blonde grinned from ear to ear as their plan pieced together.

"But wait, won't he be suspicious if you're not there?"

"Your right...he's not that oblivious..."

The two sighed simultaneously as their shoulders slumped down in defeat.

The room was once again filled with silence as they thought of ways to perfect their master plan.

Before either of them could come up with anything, the front door to the house swinging open could be heard in the background as a gust of wind entered the house along with Jiriya as he carried various bags of shopping in with him.

The two scrambled to shut the bedroom door before he would see the decorations that littered the room. A loud bag rang through the house as Himiko door slammed shut.

Jiriya closed the front door and set his bags down in confusion. Himiko's door, which was directly across from him, had slammed as we entered...

"Himiko what are you doing in there, you shouldn't get changed with the door open you know."

He chuckled, assuming that was the reason for the sudden slamming of doors.

The two teens held back laughter as they heard Jiriya's response in the background. Naruto slipped on the last bag of decorations and fell to the ground with a painful thud.

The two burst out into uncontrollable laughter as Himiko held her sides, slumping down with her back against the door.

"Himiko do you have a boy in there?...what's going on? Don't make me come in there!"

The concerned voice of Jiriya grew louder and louder as he approached the door.

"Ahahahah...stop it I'm gonna pee..."

She said between outbursts, desperately trying to contain herself.

Naruto flung the last bag across the room and out of sight from his position on the floor as Jiriya began to knock on the door.

Now that the evidence was concealed Himiko got up to open the door whilst calming herself down.

The door swung open to reveal a very concerned and distressed Jiriya standing with a hand on his hip, shopping bags scattered across the hallway.

He furrowed his brows as he looked down to see Naruto lying on the floor I'm an awkward position, not really knowing what to say.

Himiko stood back from the door, wiping a tear from her eye as the last couple of chuckles escaped her.

"Okay what is going on here? I know you guys aren't related but no funny business in my house okay?..."

He stared at them in disbelief, although he clearly had the wrong idea.

A few seconds of silence passed before the two realised what he was talking about. They both reacted in equal amounts of shock and disgust.

"WHAT THE HELL!"

Naruto exclaimed as he shot up from the floor and jerked his head back violently in disbelief**.

"Are you serious that's nasty!"

Himiko spoke out, looking away in shock and generally looking like she was going to be sick.

"Why would you say that?!"

"Jiriya I can't believe you just said that..."

"Oh my god stop it!"

"That's so wrong, I'm gonna be sick."

"You have scared me for life this time Jiriya..."

Their protests continued out to the hall as they left the room shouting and flailing their arms about in disgust. They interrupted each other as they shouted and cried out, both running into separate rooms out of embarrassment.

Jiriya stayed put and stared blankly at the back wall of the teenagers' room as he thought to himself.

_Here's a wild guess, but I think i got the wrong idea..._

* * *

Later on that day, Naruto sat in the edge of his bed deep in thought about how to approach his next master plan, however this time it was far less light hearted...

He knew he needed Sasuke's Help for this one, but he hadn't quite made up with him after all that stuff at the sleepover.

Swallowing his pride, he looked down at his phone for the hundredth time, finally gaining the courage to select the contact under the name of his former best friend.

A few moments of anxious silence passed as the phone connected his call and he waited for Sasuke to pick up, if he even would...

* * *

Sasuke lay in his bed looking up at the ceiling as music blurred throughout his room. He was incredibly bored, and at times like this he realised just how much time he would have spent with Naruto and Himiko.

He took and intake of breath before slowly closing his eyes, focusing on the beat of the music that played around him as he lost himself in a swirl of thoughts.

A sudden vibration from his Jean pocket alerted him and brought him back to reality. He reached into his pokey as looked at his phone, noticing the name that lighted up on the screen.

"Naruto...what does he want?"

He questioned before turning his music off and sitting down on the edge of his bed to answer the call.

"Hello?"

The impatience in his voice echoed through the room as he resisted the urge to hang up.

"Sasuke we need to talk... I'm getting sick of this and I need your help with something. Can I come round?"

The sound of his former friend's voice rang through his ears for the first time in a good 3 weeks. Carefully processing his words, he agreed to what he had to say.

"Okay come round whenever..."

He said emotionless as he looked down at his feet.

"I'll be round soon it's kind of urgent."

Naruto replied quickly before hanging up.

Sasuke set his phone down beside him on his bed and ran a hand through his hair before he got up and went out to the kitchen where Itachi was putting away bags of shopping.

"What's up? You look a little pissed off there."

Itachi glanced over to his younger brother who stood in the doorway as he reached up to put a box of cereal away.

"Naruto's coming round; he said he needs help with something."

The younger stated simply, leaning against the doorframe.

"You're talking to him again?"

Itachi questioned a hint of surprise evident in his voice.

"Well no but it seemed important. I think it's about time we sorted everything out anyway."

"That's surprisingly mature of you Sasuke; I don't know what to say."

The older Uchiha spoke in general surprise, although naturally he couldn't resist some form of sarcasm. He stopped what he was doing to turn his attention to his younger brother.

Although Sasuke had ignored his comment completely and continued to explain the situation.

"He said himself that he was getting sick of it, in anyone's book that would be an indication of how ridiculous this whole thing is..."

He rolled his eyes, knowing that what he was saying was exactly the case.

"Hey, then if things go well this is as good of time as any to tell him about Himiko."

Itachi joked and nudged his brother in the arm playfully.

"Oh I know, because suddenly coming off with 'Hey, you know I find Himiko very attractive, you don't mind if I date her do you?' Isn't going to make things worse is it? Don't even go there..."

"True...I mean you haven't even said anything to her yet, you should really get around to doing that Sasuke, your starting to look a little creepy. You've never been like this before its kind of scary..."

"Itachi..."

The elder brother continued his teasing despite Sasuke obvious annoyance.

"And you don't even know if she likes you yet... If this were anyone else you would had said something by now, it's a sign I'm telling you-"

"Don't even go there..."

Sasuke repeated his warning as he rolled his eyes for the hundredth time in the past 30 seconds.

A sudden knock at the front door drew their attention away from their talk. Itachi looked over to his younger brother once more, a small smile on his face.

"Well are you going to answer it or what?"

The younger sighed before exiting the room and making his way to the front door. When he approached, he could already see Naruto's blonde hair through the reflection of the glass.

He slowly opened the door and greeted him to come in with a beckoning of his hand.

Without a word the two made their way into the living room and they sat on opposite sides of the sofa, making it known through their body language that neither of them had quite come to terms with the idea of talking it out, despite their agreement.

Sasuke suddenly spoke up to break the awkward silence.

"So what is it you need help with?"

He asked, looking down at his hands the entire time.

"If I'm honest I'd rather deal with the other thing first, it makes everything easier..."

The blonde replied, seemingly more collected than his former friend. A few more moments passed before Naruto spoke up again in an attempt to get some form of conversation going.

"Look, I know I over reacted but you have to understand that when it comes to family I can't just let people treat them whatever way they want. You know better than most people that I hardly have any family left, so whoever I have now I intend on protecting in any way I can. I just don't want to lose anyone else."

"I guess I never thought of it like that, but me and Karin are over now. If I hurt her in the past then yea i'll own up for that but I have no intention of going anywhere near her again, were over and that's the way I want to keep it."

"I dunno man, I just heard that she wanted to get back with you and I saw red, I didn't want all that shit to happen again, it was messed up."

"I know it was, believe me I had to try and defuse all that. I know she's your cousin but at the same time you can't blame that all on me, she isn't the innocent one in all of this."

"Yea maybe she's not but what else am I meant to do? I can't stand by and let either of you think that acting like that is okay. Maybe it's nothing to do with me but I don't care, you were both acting like complete psychos and I for one wasn't going to deal with that."

"Well look, how about it put it this way; if I agree not to go near Karin will you stop acting like a dick?"

Sasuke smirked, finally looking up from his hands and over to Naruto who sat at the other end of the he sofa.

"Well damn, if you put it like that..."

He grinned back and shook his head in sarcasm before getting up and holding out his arms. Sasuke also stood up and was suddenly pulled into a hug.

"Naruto, this is getting too gay for my liking..."

The two laughed in unison as Naruto let go of him.

"Please, I wouldn't go near you...you're not good enough for my standards."

Sasuke glared back at him in sarcasm before making his way towards the kitchen.

"Do you want a glass of water or something? You appear to be more thirsty than usual."

Naruto laughed as he sat back down on the sofa.

"I'm sorry but I think you've been practicing that one. And get me a Pepsi, you weirdo..."

Sasuke rolled his eyes as he exited the room to find that Itachi had left a note on the kitchen table saying that he would be out for the rest of the day.

After grabbing two cans of Pepsi he returned into the living room to see Naruto sprawled out on the sofa as if nothing even happened.

"So what was it you needed help with?"

Sasuke inquired as he tossed a can over to Naruto and sat on the sofa across from him.

"Oh yea I almost forgot about that...okay so you know the way it's Jiriya's birthday tomorrow?"

Sasuke nodded in response.

"Well, it's also the day that Himiko's brother gets back from his tour in the military, so I need someone to distract her at the party so we can surprise her too - and that would be you."

"Are you sure? I mean -"

"Yes I'm sure, I didn't make peace with you for no particular reason."

He chuckled as Sasuke became more and more hesitant.

"But why me?"

The Uchiha furrowed his brows in a mix of concern and confusion.

"Well, I'd be a liar if I said I don't like to help my friends out... and I'd also be lying if I said I didn't know you like her."

He said frankly, giving him a look that clearly said 'it's obvious don't deny it'.

"Help me out, what-"

He began to retort although he was swiftly cut off but his newly * best friend.

"Come on, everyone knows. For the first week you knew her all you did was sit and stare while she wasn't looking. I mean, you tried to conceal it but I know you too well Sasuke..."

A blush began to rise on his face as Naruto spoke. He could feel the heat radiating from his face as he quickly looked away.

"How am I meant to distract her though?"

He questioned, changing the subject as he maintained control over the colour of his face.

"As I said I like to help my friends out, and seeing as you haven't said anything yet, which is very weird for you-"

"You want me to tell her don't you?"

He cut his friend off mid sentence, his voice suddenly emotionless as an attempt to conceal his scepticism.

"It's as good of time as any..."

* * *

**OoOoOoo the next chapter looks to be exciting if I do say so myself xD **

**As you've guessed things will be getting a bit more exiting from now on, so hopefully I'll get the next chapter out soon so theres less of a wait.**

**But untill then, thank you for reading I hope you enjoyed! :)**


	11. Chapter 10

**Hey guys I'm back with another chapter yay!**

**So this chapter will really start to get things going again and it it will get a bit more eventful from here on out im glad to say. This chapter also gives a little tiny bit of background about Himiko and her family, but theres pleanty more of that to come in future chapters.**

**I do not anyone or anything within the Naruto universe. I also do not own any music etc refferenced within any od the chapters. **

**Anyhow,ENJOY! :)**

* * *

Chapter 10: When plans come together...

The day of the surprise party was upon them so Naruto and Himiko had made sure that they go up early to put their plan into action. All the while without knowing, there was also a plan going on behind the scenes for Himiko too.

Jiriya was out to work early so they had time to start putting up decorations before he would meet up with Himiko to go out for a meal.

"Okay, so I'll bring a card and a box of chocolates with me so he doesn't start getting suspicious..."

Himiko's thoughts trailed as she pinned up a banner on the living room door that said 'Happy Birthday'.

Naruto nodded in agreement as he started to blow up some balloons to be scattered about the room.

A comfortable silence filled the room for a few moments before Naruto suddenly spoke up, putting the last balloon down as he addressed Himiko.

"Hey, Himi-Chan I forgot to tell you that Sasuke and I are friends again...so you don't have to worry about that anymore."

She looked over to him with a thoughtful smile as he spoke, though she was still surprised that they made up so quickly.

"That's good, I was starting to think you two would be at each other's throats forever..."

He let out a small chuckle in reaction, if he was honest he knew he that had to do something before that ended up being exactly the case.

Once the decorations were put up and everything was cleaned up, Naruto called up the cake decorators so that he could go pick up the birthday cake.

"Okay Himi-Chan I'm gonna go get the cake now, so it's time to put the plan into action."

He enthused as he grabbed his coat on his way out the door.

"Right, I'll text you when I meet up with Jiriya so you know the coast is clear...and remember not to drop the cake, we don't need anything going wrong today."

Himiko giggled at the last part despite her serious warning.

Naruto made his way out of the house, phone in hand as we waited for Sasuke to pick him up. He stood at the bottom of Jiriya's well maintained garden as he kept a look out for Sasuke's car.

As he thought to himself and let his mind wonder for a few moments, he acknowledged that he still felt a bit weird about all the stuff that went down with Sasuke, not that he'd show it but it still felt a little strange to be friends again...

A few moments later Sasuke pulled up beside him and he snapped out of his thoughts.

"Come on, no time to waste Naruto we've got to keep moving."

Sasuke rolled his eyes sarcastically as he looked over to his blonde haired friend who was stood beside the car window.

"Well aren't you on form today? Alright, alright I'm coming..."

He slowly entered the car and they made their way to go and pick up the cake.

The radio played softly in the background as Sasuke drove down the street. Naruto pulled out his list to check that he was on track in terms of things to do. As he checked off 'go get the cake' from the list Sasuke glanced over to him for a few moments.

"...So what about later on?"

He spoke calmly as he inquired about the plan involving Himiko's brother.

"Well he's supposed to get off his flight soon so we're going to have to pick him up from the airport while we're out getting the cake."

Sasuke froze for a brief moment before retaining his clam exterior.

_Damn I didn't think we'd be picking him up so soon, but then again the plan hasn't really been discussed... I wonder what he's like..._

After a few seconds of silence between the two, Sasuke spoke up once more.

"...so what's he like? Himiko's brother..."

He questioned as he kept his eyes on the road, a sense of nervousness disguised in the undertones of his voice.

Naruto looked up from his list and looked over to him, although Sasuke was subtly trying to avoid eye contact by keeping his focus on the road.

"If I'm honest I don't remember him too well, I never really saw him as much as I saw Himiko. All I know is he's been away for quite some time doing tours in the army..."

"So he could kill you if you got on his bad side?"

Sasuke joked, although his nervous chuckle gave him away.

Naruto stared at him for a few moments as he took in the expression on his friends face, coming to a conclusion he rolled his eyes in disbelief.

"You're not scared to meet him are you? I know he's in the army but I doubt he'll go crazy and murder you."

Naruto couldn't help but laugh as he spoke.

"No I'm not that stupid, please...I'm just saying he probably isn't your average person you see from day to day."

Disbelief becoming more and more evident in his face, Naruto furrowed his brow as he once again looked over to Sasuke.

"You're over thinking this, I'm telling you. If there's anything I remember about Mafuyu it's that he wasn't some scary psycho who went around ripping people's heads off, in fact he was the complete opposite."

As Naruto finished his sentence, Sasuke had parked them outside the cake shop.

"I'll be back in a minuet... Don't pee yourself while I'm gone okay?"

Sasuke's only reply was a stern glare through the window as Naruto closed the car door.

* * *

On the other side of town Himiko had met up with Jiriya and they were on their way to have their lunch.

They walked down the street past a series of shops as they neared the restaurant they had made reservations for. The sun shone down on them as they walked, it seemed to be the perfect day.

"God I can't wait to see what the special is today, it'll be a change from always going to the ramen shop haha..."

Jiriya chuckled to himself as he mused.

Himiko smiled thoughtfully as she took in the look on his face. He grinned from ear to year, a slight spring in his step as he walked.  
_  
...if only Naruto were here to see this, he'd be over the moon..._

Jiriya had caught her in her somewhat daydream like state and put a hand on her shoulder out of concern.

"Is everything alright Himiko?"

She snapped out of her trance and looked up at him.

"...Yea I'm fine, I just wish Naruto was here to see how happy you are..."

She smiled off into the distance for a few seconds before realising what he had just said.

"-But you know he really had to go sort things out with Sasuke; he didn't want that to ruin things today..."

She blurted out in an attempt to cover herself from giving away the plan.

"Your right, it's been affecting him for quite some time and I'll see him later on anyway. Maybe I'll invite him out for some ramen to make up for it."

The two soon found themselves outside the restaurant. Himiko has checked with a waiter about their reservations and they took their seats at the back of restaurant (which was carefully planned just in case Naruto would happen to pass by).

* * *

Elsewhere, Naruto had returned to the car with the cake and sat down with it on his knee in the front seat so as to make sure it didn't get destroyed.

"Okay, it's almost half past one and if I remember correctly Mafuyu's plane lands soon. Do you know how to get to the airport?"

"Of Course I do..."

Sasuke shook his head slightly as he rolled his eyes at his blonde friend.

"Come on then, we have No time to waste, let's keep moving."

Naruto joked, making a bad attempt to imitate his dark haired friend, of which seemed far less than impressed.

The car started up once more and they made their way towards Konoha airport outside of town.

As they drove further and further away from the city and closer to the airport, their surroundings became more and more remote, save for the odd warehouse building that they passed from time to time.

Naruto had switched the radio on a small time into their journey and changed the station until he was satisfied. All of a sudden the beat of a particular love song drifted throughout the car and Naruto sat back in his seat.

Tapping his foot along to the beat and murmuring the lyrics quietly to himself, Naruto began to smile. As the words made their way to Sasuke's ears he suddenly realised what song it was. (Like I can by Sam smith)

"Naruto what the hell is this?"

Sasuke cocked his head to the side to look over at his friend who wore a smug grin across his face.

"What, you don't like this song? I think it's very fitting."

He furrowed his brows and glared at him for a few seconds before concentrating back on the road.

"...Would you care to elaborate on that one Naruto?"

A series of chuckles escaped the blonde before he spoke up.

"We're currently driving down a road in the middle of nowhere in order to surprise Himiko with the arrival of her elder sibling. Said fair maiden would then see the determination and dedication of the dashing knight who dared to brave the threat of her brother who-"

"You are such a weirdo Naruto... What the hell was that, we're not in some romantic novel here...knight...are you serious...?"

He cut his friend off mid sentence, ranting about his 'poetic' speech with the odd scoff added in for good measure. As we went on, the harshness of his words had worn off and he had to fight back a fit of laughter.

"Okay, okay disregarding my Shakespearian flair the song really suits the situation...and she likes this song so you could sing it to her when confessing your love."

"Dear god Naruto you really have went soft on me...singing love songs and being poetic, what's happened to you..."

Sasuke shook his head in disbelief, thankful that the song, and Naruto's speech had ended.

A few minutes later they approached the airport. Naruto checked his watch for the time as Sasuke pulled into a parking space.

"Okay you mind the cake and I'll go find Mafuyu, his plane should have just landed."

Naruto handed the cake over to Sasuke before getting out of the car and making his way towards the airport building.

He Stood in the terminal and waited for his friends elder brother. A few minutes past before the familiar tall frame of Mafuyu appeared in the distance, still clad in his military uniform.

As he neared, Naruto had noticed that his signature long white hair had been shaved (for obvious reasons), and the features of his face seemed to have hardened since the last time they met...not to mention the nasty scar that he seemed to have recently gained across his left cheek bone...

"Naruto! It's good to see you...jeez you've grown a lot since I last saw you."

The husky voice of Himiko's elder brother rang through Naruto's ears for the first time in years. Despite the physical changes, the same personality that he remembered shone through his words.

The White haired man, now in his early 20s exchanged a strong embrace with the teenager, the two suddenly swelling with giddiness.

"Yea I've been getting that a lot from your sister...I dare say she's grown a bit from the last time you seen her too."

"That's good haha, which reminds me how are things going with you two? You know, now that you've been reunited after all these years?..."

He chuckled mid sentence as he thought of his younger sibling and how short she was the last time he had seen her.

"Things have been great, we're not in the same year at school but she's made loads of friends, I made sure to look out for her like you said."

Naruto smiled thoughtfully as Mafuyu was overcome with nostalgia, mirroring the smile on the blondes face.

"I see you kept my letters then, I knew you'd look after her for me..."

Once the news of the death of Himiko's father came to light, Mafuyu had sent letters to Jiriya requesting that he would take her in seeing as he could not provide a stable lifestyle for her with his regular tours in the army. Jiriya being the generous and loving person that he was, agreed without hesitation. Mafuyu sent many a letter to thank him of his great kindness, along with the odd letter to Naruto to thank him also. In the last letter that was sent, Mafuyu confided in Naruto that he deeply regretted he couldn't be there for his younger sister and furthermore, the only close family he had left. So in order to put his mind at ease, he requested that Naruto would keep an eye on her, seeing as they were childhood friends.

Naruto watched as the thoughtful smile on his face turned to one of sadness. A sense of regret and thankfulness radiated from him as he lowered his eyes to look at the floor in a moment of defeat.

"You don't have to feel guilty about it Mafuyu, none of this is your fault... Come on we need to get going, there's someone waiting with a birthday cake in the car."

He took a moment to compose himself before nodding in agreement. He gathered his bags and the two made their way out of the airport.

"...you do know it's not my birthday though...you didn't have to splash out on a cake."

Mafuyu joked as they entered the car park; seemingly back to his normal self.

"Please, I wouldn't waste the money on you...and it's for Jiriya's party."

The blonde joked back playfully. The older stuck his bottom lip out in an attempt to look hurt, although it wore off quick as he couldn't help a small fit of laughter.

"So what age is the old geezer now, he must be ready to go into one of those retirements homes soon haha."

The two chuckled as they continued to walk.

"Very soon, it's getting hard to stand him these days with all the memory loss haha."

They reached the car, passing the driver's window that Sasuke looked out of to put Mafuyu's bags in the boot. The White haired man noticed the teen sitting in the front seat and looked over to Naruto to question.

"That's Sasuke; he's helping the plan come together."

Mafuyu nodded as he put the last of his bags into the car.

"I see...I think I have heard that name before, though I can't put my finger on where..."

A grin returned to the blondes face as he spoke.

"Probably from Himiko Id say, there 'good friends'..."

Mafuyu's head shot up in reaction as he closed the boot of the car.

"...'Good friends'? Dare I ask?"

He raised an eyebrow as he made his way around the car to open the door.

"Well, not good friends yet but they will be soon."

They both rolled their eyes simultaneously as they entered the car. Sasuke had not moved, nor said a word as the atmosphere became somewhat awkward. An uncomfortable silence filled their air for a few moments before Naruto took the opportunity to move things along by introducing them.

"Sasuke this is Mafuyu, Himiko's brother and Mafuyu this is Sasuke, who is friends with Himiko. There we go!"

He spoke in a cheerful, almost mocking tone, enjoying the awkwardness of the other two. Mafuyu however, took no notice and leaned forward in his seat to extend his hand out to the dark haired teen.

"It's nice to meet you Sasuke."

He took a firm grip of the others hand and shook it. Mafuyu deliberately made eye contact with the teen, who on the other hand tried to avoid his gaze as he wasn't sure how to address him.

"Nice to meet you too..."

Sasuke mumbled in response as he retracted his hand and looked over to Naruto.

"Here you can take the cake back now."

He said politely, before giving the blonde a fake smile and handing him the cake. Naruto returned the same fake smile in an attempt to mock him, although he ignored it and started up the car once more.

"And by the way, Sasuke was it?...it's become apparent to me that you have an interest in my younger sister..."

Mafuyu spoke up from the back of the car, his inquiry hitting the dark haired teen like a round of bullets that he was sure the older was used to firing.

* * *

**Dun Dun Dunnnn...I wonder how Mafuyu will take it, you'll have to wait and see for the next chapter! xD**

**Hopefully I'll be able to update soon, but in the meantime this lil chapter will have to do. **

**Thank you for reading I hope you enjoyed! :) x**


	12. Chapter 11

**Sorry that there has'nt been a new chapter up in quite some time guys! :(**

**Ive just recently finished my exams and such so I should be back for good now and there should'nt be any big gaps between uploads,back to the regular rutine now! :D**

**There should also be another chapter up later today to kinda make up for everything. And now, as always I do not own any one or thing from the Naruto universe, just my OC's and the idea for this fanfic. **

**Thank you for having patience and ENJOY! :)**

* * *

Chapter 11 - How things change, Yet stay the same

An awkward silence filled the air as Sasuke inwardly panicked. He froze for a few moments before looking over to Naruto who was already looking back at him. Sasuke widened his eyes as if to say "what the hell do I say" and Naruto shrugged his shoulders in response.

A small series of chuckles drifted from the back of the car as Mafuyu leaned forward in his seat once more to address the dark haired teen who looked like he was about to faint...

"It's okay I won't kill you or anything...though one of the perks of being in the army is that people generally don't mess with you, but I digress, murdering someone is not on my list of things to do today..."

He spoke with a hint of humour as he leaned on the back of Sasuke's car seat. The teenager had still not spoken yet, unsure of exactly what to say.

Still sensing the uneasiness of the dark haired teen, Mafuyu put a hand on his shoulder gain his full attention. Sasuke turned his head to the side and glanced at his friends older brother, feeling somewhat more comfortable with the situation now that death threats had been taken off the table.

"...You would be right in saying that I have an interest in her..."

Sasuke spoke carefully as he broke eye contact with Mafuyu and looked down at his hands as they were rested on his knees, suddenly realising his tense demeanour.

* * *

Elsewhere, Himiko and Jiriya had finished their meal. Jiriya had ordered an extra cup of coffee now that he was done so he could take a few moments to let his food go down.

Himiko saw the opportunity to present the card and chocolates now that there was a momentary silence.

Reaching into her bag on the floor she addressed him casually.

"...Now because Naruto couldn't be here he wanted to make sure that I gave you these on his behalf."

Jiriya looked over to her as she gained his attention. He furrowed his brow slightly as he inwardly questioned what was going on.

She set the box of chocolates on the table and pushed them towards him. He returned a grateful smile and he picked the box up and briefly read the label. Himiko couldn't help but grin from ear as he set the chocolates back down on the table, eyes beginning to water slightly. He suddenly got up from his seat and embraced the teen in a bear hug.

"Oh Himiko, this has been such a great day. I know Naruto couldn't be here but I'm glad to have you both."

He took a step back to wipe a tear from his eye, laughing at his sudden emotional outburst. Himiko laughed along as they sat back down in their seats.

"Well it's the least we could do. You've done so much for us, we figured that we owed you at least one day pampering."

Himiko smiled thoughtfully as she mused, her thoughts wondering to Naruto once again.  
_  
I wonder how things are going with Naruto, he hasn't texted me yet to say he's back at the house..._

After a few minutes of silence Jiriya inwardly collected himself and finished off his coffee. Himiko then paid the bill and they ventured outside once more to decide where they were headed next.

"Why don't we go to that book store you're always talking about? It'll be my treat."

Himiko suggested, remembering that Jiriya had went on for weeks about a new book store opening

The two stood outside the restaurant, sun beating down on them as they decided we're they would head next.

"Oh you treat me too much Miss Himiko, but I'm afraid I can't resist"

Jiriya chuckled joyfully as he held his hand up in defeat.

"There have been a few books that I've been waiting to get my hands on I must admit."

"Well then, it's a plan!"

Himiko enthused as they headed in the direction of the bookstore a few streets down from the restaurant.

* * *

Meanwhile, the atmosphere was still somewhat tense between Sasuke and Mafuyu. The teen had still not started driving yet, too preoccupied with the conversation at hand.

The white haired man sat back in his seat after a few moments of silence, speaking up as he did so.

"I see..."

The two teens looked at each other in a state of blind confusion. Sasuke in particular was

"Wait, that's it?"

The blonde questioned out loud, seeing as Sasuke couldn't muster up the courage.

"Yes?"

Mafuyu answered questionably, matching the confusion on the teen's faces.

"...Are we staying here at the airport? I thought we had somewhere to be..."

He spoke up once more after a momentary silence, humour coating his words.

"Your right, let's get going."

Sasuke started up the car once more and quickly exited the parking lot of the airport.

After a long and awkward journey the three ended up back at Jiriya's bungalow.

As they closed in there was no way to tell that a birthday party was merely an hour away from being held. Himiko and Naruto were careful in how they decorated so that there were no obvious signs from the outside of the house.

As Sasuke pulled into the driveway, he stopped to look over at Naruto.

"Do you need me for anything else?"

"Well, you're welcome to come to the party if you want. It would be a great opportunity to-"

"Okay okay I'll come, but later on...I have to go do some errands for Itachi first."

He cut the blonde off mid sentence, already knowing what he was going to say as he wore a smug grin across his face.

Realising that the pair had slightly overstayed their welcome, Naruto and Mafuyu got out of the car. Naruto however, made sure to take his time so as to not drop the cake and ruin all their plans so he stepped out of the car carefully, cake in both hands and made his way towards the front door of the house.

Sasuke spent no time in pulling out of the driveway and giving a quick wave to his blonde haired friend before speeding down the road in the opposite direction. All the while Mafuyu stood at the bottom of the garden, staring in the direction that Sasuke had just escaped from.

He took a moment to chuckle and shake his head, disbelief washing over him.

"Why does Himiko always go for the weird ones...?"

"You haven't seen the half of it yet. Trust me when I say it gets crazier than that..."

Naruto called over between chuckles, forgetting himself as he was lost in the conversation. A few moments passed before he remembered he was still standing at the door with the cake, not to mention that the sun was beating down on them.

Starting to panic, Naruto tried to balance the cake on one arm so he could grab his keys out of his pocket.

"You just gonna stand there Mafuyu, were on a tight schedule here?!"

The blonde screamed out, as he frantically looked for his keys. Mafuyu jumped as he forgot just how loud the teen could be.

Taking the cake out of his hands, Mafuyu stood at the door as Naruto thoroughly checked all of his pockets.

"Oh man, I can't lose my keys now!"

"Clam down and look again okay."

The white haired man spoke in a relaxed tone that only seemed to make him more nervous. After searching once more a sigh of relief escaped the teen when he found them in the back pocket of his jeans.

"See I told you didn't I?"

After half an hour of setting up some extra decorations and phoning the odd person to let them know the cost is clear, the party was all set up and people started to arrive.

The house, and more so the living room, was soon bustling with people excited to see how Jiriya would react to the surprise. Amongst the people were some of Jiriya's old friends such as Tsunade and Orochimaru, who would raise their eyebrows in disbelief every time they met eyes with the teen, entirely unsure of how he managed to keep the whole thing together.

"He must have had help from...Oh what was her name? Himiko I think it was...Yes, she's a smart girl."

Orochimaru whispered to Tsunade, eyes following the teen as he disappeared into the crowd.

"I'd say so... I just can't believe you don't remember your own students' names."

Tsunade whispered in reply, voice increasingly harsh as she continued to speak.

In the kitchen Naruto had finally found Mafuyu again seeing as he disappeared as soon as everyone started to arrive. He found the white haired man leaned against the kitchen table, eyes focused on the large clock that hung on the wall.

"So when is he supposed to be here?..."

He spoke quietly, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Himiko just texted me to say that they're on their way...they should be about 10 minutes at most."

Naruto spoke thoughtfully as even without looking at him, he could sense the sombreness that radiated from the soldier that was stood before him.

"I'll admit, I didn't expect to find you here. I thought you had disappeared or something."

He tried to make a joke to lighten the mood, but alas, Mafuyu had barely even relaxed from his ridged stature.

"...I'm not too good with crowds these days. The army teaches you to keep your distance from them...It sounds silly I know but it's a way to protect yourself."

A few moments of silence passed between the two, a sober atmosphere filled the air. Naruto quietly thought to himself as he tried to move the conversation on.

_I never thought that being in the army had affected him this much. I can tell it has taken a toll on him physically, but I've never seen him like this. At first I couldn't see any difference in him...but damn, the army must really be tough..._

The teen took another few moments to shake off this heavy thoughts before addressing Mafuyu once more.

"You should probably go somewhere out of sight until the coast is clear...How about her room?"

"Yea... That's a good idea."

He spoke distantly as he turned his gaze away from the clock and over to the blonde teen.

"Okay it's just down the hall, the door opposite the living room."

Naruto watched as the white haired man exited the room, a sense of solemnity shadowing him like some sort of ghost.

* * *

**Thing should really get moving again in the next chapter, I just thought that It was important to give a bit of background to Mafuyu and hopefully put a bit of humour in there for the meantime. . **

**The next chapter should hopefully be up today, but If not then it will be 100% up by tomorrow! **

**Thank you for reading I hope you enjoyed! :) x**


	13. Chapter 12

**Again I apologise for the delay in the new chapter guys, a lot of stuff has been going on recently. But allas, it is now up. :)**

**As per usual, I do not own anyone or anything within the Naruto world, just my OC Himiko. And with that said...**

**ENJOY:)**

* * *

Chapter 12 – Plans Reviled

The young soldier entered the small box room that had been decorated thoroughly with posters and various clutter. He smiled to himself, swelling with nostalgia as he picked up a small teddy bear that has been cast aside at the corner of the room below the window sill. Rays of light that had escaped the blinds shone on the side of his face as he sat down on the floor beside the window and rubbed his thumb over the textured nose of the stuffed bear.

"Snowy..."

He whispered to himself as he remembered the name that had been given to the animal so long ago. His scruffy, now dull white fur had been the inspiration for his name, although at the time he was as white as snow... or so their father had said when he had brought it home.

_I knew she would have lost him, if only I hadn't stuffed him in that last box before the moving van came then he would have been long gone..._

He sat in silence as he continued to scan the rest of the room from his position on the floor, taking in all the small features of the room. What seemed like a matter of hours passed In the few minuets that the white haired man took to appreciate the various familiar items that caught his eye.

Hearing a sudden series of noises coming from outside, Mafuyu perked up and made his way to the door, ear pressed to the solid wood that separated the bedroom from the main hallway.

* * *

Jiriya and Himiko made their way into the house, finding that the front door was ready unlocked.

"I take it Naruto is in then, wonder how his day went..."

Jiriya mused as Himiko held the door open for him.

"He's probably in the living room watching TV as per usual..."

The teen informed casually as Jiriya opened the living room door just a crack.

"I better go check on him then, he's-"

"SURPRISE!"

An array of voices cut him off mid sentence with a series of laughter following after. Jiriya jumped back in surprise as he realised just what was going on. After a moment of silence from the white haired man, he too joined in with the array of laugher in the room.

After the laughter calmed down he turned to Himiko and Naruto, already knowing that they were the creators of the plan.

"Jeez you two sure make a team, not for one minute did I expect all of this."

He beamed at the two teens as the swelled with pride.

"Aw come here..."

He scooped his arms around the two and trapped them into a bear hug as he grinned from ear to ear.

"Can't...breathe..."

Naruto gasped out as Himiko chuckled; now being in her second bear hug of the day. He let the two go after a few moments and held them at arm's length.

"Thank you, I really appreciate that you would go to all the trouble of inviting all these crazy people just to come see me."

"Hey, we're not crazy!"

Tsunade hollered from across the room with her arms in the air, seemingly already drunk off some form of alcohol that she had brought with her as she downed the last of it in one go.

"...well some of us are..."

Shizune muttered as she rolled her eyes, struggling to hold Tsunade up as she nearly collapsed in the middle of the room.

"...well anyway you know what I mean..."

Jiriya digressed, a look of alight concern and humour on his face as he looked over to Tsunade.

The party was well into swing by the time Naruto managed to slip out to check on Mafuyu. He managed to distract Himiko by asking her to cut up the birthday cake in the kitchen with his excuse being that "he didn't want to mess up the cake".

He carefully closed the bedroom door after him as he entered and turned to find Mafuyu sitting on the edge of Himiko's bed with a small teddy bear in his hands.

"You okay man? The party's well under way now, so the coast is clear."

The white haired solider chuckled in response.

"Oh I know ha-ha there was enough commotion I could tell."

"Yeah..."

The teen chuckled along as he searched the back of his neck out of habit.

"Well Himiko is in the kitchen cutting up the cake so you can go on in."

Mafuyu took his gaze off the stuffed animal and look over to Naruto with a small smile.

"...Yea."

The two made their way out of the room without a sound so as to not attract any attention. A few people stood out in the hallway, including Tsunade who looked like she was trying to get herself together after having too much to drink. She looked on as the young soldier passed her.

He opened the kitchen door slowly to see Himiko with her back turned, plating up the a few slices of the birthday cake.

He approached slowly and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Naruto are you trying to scare the life out of-"

She turned slightly and paused in shock.

"...Mafuyu? Oh my god what are you doing here!"

Still in shock, the teen dove into him as he pulled her into a tight hug.

"I can't believe it, Mafuyu your here!"

He chuckled as he held her closer, noticing a tear escape the younger sibling.

"Now don't you start crying on me Himi."

He joked, unintentionally causing her to burst into tears.

"Hey now, what are you crying for?"

He spoke softly as he took a step back and patted her on the head. The gesture causing her to laugh a little and gather herself together.

"I missed you Mafuyu..."

"I know, I missed you too kiddo."

He embraced the teen once more before allowing her to go back to plating up the last few slices of cake.

He sat down at the kitchen table and took the opportunity to catch up.

"So how are you Himi? Did you settle in to school well? Did you make many friends? Of course you did, Naruto's been taking care of you hasn't he? Oh and about that kid Sasuke..."

His thoughts wondered into a web of questions. Himiko however, simply turned to face him with a look of confusion.

"...Too many questions at once? Sorry."

He chucked as he caught himself.

"Ha-ha...I'm fine Mafuyu everything turned out good here, I made some good friends here over the last few months...but how do you know Sasuke?"

Now it was her time to ask the questions, and Mafuyu seemed to have caught his tongue.

"Well...he was the one who drove Naruto down to the airport to get me, that's all I know.."

Himiko was not convinced, Mafuyu was never a good liar, especially when it came to his younger sister.

"Are you sure you're not making that up big brother? I can tell when you're lying."

She smirked as he shifted in his seat.

"Well it's true he drove Naruto down to the airport but...I've heard a few things. Just say a 'little bird' told me about him."

"A little bird hmm? And what did the little bird say?"

She raised an eyebrow as he got up from the chair.

"Oh nothing...say, where's Jiriya I need to have a little catch up with him too..."

He swiftly changed the subject as he made his way to the door.

"He's probably in the living room of say, don't worry though I'll get it out of you soon enough Mafuyu."

She chuckled as he shook his head in disbelief before swiftly exiting the room.

* * *

Elsewhere, Sasuke had just finished his 'errands' for Itachi. And by 'errands' it seemed that Itachi wanted him to be a pack mule whilst he explored the drinks isle in the nearest grocery store to stock up on alcohol for the party being held in their house.

He never could understand why the seniors would drink every other night. For one it was disgusting but it was costly too, although Itachi was loaded so it wasn't a matter for him.

Now that he got out of that damned grocery store he could go Jiriya's birthday party. Although he thought it was a bit weird seeing as most of the people there were adults, and over half were teachers from his school.

He parked up further down the street seeing as there was an array of cars parked outside the house. Taking a moment to get himself together he realised why he was here in the first place. He was here to confess to Himiko.

He inwardly cursed himself as he got out of the car and slowly made his way to the bungalow.

_Damn it, why do I always get myself into these situations..?_

He wrapped the door loudly in an attempt to be heard over the commotion inside the house. After rapping again Jiriya opened the door.

"Hello Sasuke, come on in!"

He enthused as he stepped back and let the teen in.

It was at that moment that Sasuke had noticed Mafuyu standing with Jiriya; they seemed to be having a conversation.

"Oh yes, I don't know if you knew Sasuke but this here is Himiko's older brother, he's a soldier and just got back from one of his yours."

He paused briefly before concluding his introduction.

"And Mafuyu this is Sasuke. He's one of Naruto's friends."

Mafuyu looked at the teen knowingly, unsure of whether he should inform Jiriya that the two had already met.

"...I see, it's nice to meet you Sasuke."

The young soldier took a firm grip of the teens hand and shook it formally, clearly deciding that it would be too much hassle to explain the story.

"...Nice to meet you too."

Sasuke played along, addressing him formally.

"You know, I haven't tried any of the cake yet, is there's still some left in tech kitchen Jiriya?"

Mafuyu addressed Jiriya whilst still keeping an eye on the teen, who grew uncomfortable as he caught on to what the soldier was hinting at.

"There should still be some left I think, better hurry though, it's going quick."

The elder joked as he took a sip of his drink and looked off into the living room to see Tsunade sprawled out on the sofa.

"You should try some too Sasuke, it's really good...now if you excuse me a certain someone is passed out on my sofa..."

His thoughts trailed, clearly distracted as he wondered off into the living room, leaving the two out in the hallway.

A few awkward moments passed between them until Mafuyu looked over to him.

"How about a piece of cake then?"

He cocked his head in the direction of the kitchen to indicate that he wanted the teen to follow him. And he did so without a word.

After each taking plate they say down at the kitchen table across from each other. Silence fell upon them as they both tried some of the cake that had been neatly cut into small rectangles at Himiko's doing.

The white haired man was the first to speak up.

"You know why I asked you to come in here don't you?"

The dark haired teen simply nodded in response as he ate the last piece of cake on his plate.

"Look, I didn't want to say this in front of your Naruto to embarrass you...from what I've seen you're a good kid, I don't know much about you, but I will soon enough. All I'm going to say is that it isn't up to me who my little sister dates, heck I haven't been there for the past few months...but just don't hurt her okay? She's all I have left and I will hunt you down if you don't treat her right."

"I understand..."

The teen said quietly, an array of thoughts running through his mind.

"If I'm honest I haven't even asked her out yet, but I guess that's what I'm here for."

"Well I wouldn't expect you to be here to hang about with a bunch of adults."

Mafuyu joked as he stood up from his chair and collected his plate. Sasuke quietly nodded his head in agreement as he too gathered his plate and pushed his chair in.

"...She's out the back by the way; I don't blame her its way too noisy in here..."

Mafuyu hinted to get the teen on his way, standing at the sink with a thoughtful smile.

"Oh and don't worry I'm leaving, I'm not hanging around to hear all the teen angst, I had enough of that to last me a lifetime I think..."

Sasuke smirked as the young soldier held his hands up in admittance and made his way out of the room.

* * *

Outside Himiko breathed in the cool air of the approaching night fall. It had been a long and emotional day for her, and many other people at that she bet.

She stepped out of the party a little while ago as the bungalow started to get a little claustrophobic, she was glad to at least get away from the increasing number of drunk adults that gathered around the house, especially her teachers...

She closed her eyes for a few moments as her thoughts returned to her brother.

_How did Naruto and Sasuke even get away with that, amongst all the party planning too? I have to give them credit they sure did surprise me..._

"Himiko?"

Her thoughts had been interrupted by the familiar voice of someone she had just been thinking about. If she didn't know any better she would have swore she was hallucinating.

Her eyes shot open as she looked in the direction that the voice had come from.

"...Sasuke? What are you doing here?"

* * *

**OoOoOoOoO I wonder how things will plan out with this one? xD**

**Stay tuned to find out! Next chapter should be out soon so dont worry! Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed! :) x**


	14. Chapter 13

**Hey guys Im back with another chaper! Sorry for taking so long to update I've been really busy lately and I'm about to go back to school. But don't worry I have at least another 2 chapers done so hopefully I won't be too long in getting them up! :)**

** Also I know this chapter is quite short but I hope to make up for it in the next few chapters so don't worry. As always, I own nothing within the Naruto world or any songs etc that have been referanced within the story, just my OC's Himiko and Mafuyu. :)**

**I have a lot more chapters planned for this fanfic so bare with me guys and thank you for reading so far I really appriciate reviews and favorites etc, it lets me know that you guys are enjoying it. **

**And with that all said, ENJOY! :D**

* * *

Chapter 13 - A confession to make...

The dark haired teen closed the door behind him and stepped closer in the direction she was standing. He stood before her in silence for a few moments as he inwardly collected himself. He had been thinking about what he would say all day, he was sure of exactly the words he would use but somehow they escaped him and now he had to think on the spot, something he was normally good at doing, but not in cases such as this one. Himiko watched carefully as she noticed his breathing became somewhat uneasy, she could sense that something was wrong.

"You okay Sasuke...you look a bit pale."

Her words of concern made him crack a smile as he momentarily returned to his normal self.

"When am I not pale?"

He joked as Himiko realised she had walked right into that one, his skin compared to that of a ghost most days, although he wasn't nearly a pale as Sai, he was on a whole other level...

She chuckled slightly and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before looking over to him once more. Their eyes met for a few brief moments as she studied a look in his eyes she had not seen before. She could tell he was acting somewhat strange, but she couldn't quite understand why, after all they were friends. As far as she remembered she had told him that if he ever needed to talk, whether it be an issue with Naruto or something completely different that she would always be willing to listen. Perhaps this was one of such occasions...

He on the other hand stared back at her, an intense swell of determination rising in his chest, although she wasn't quite aware of it yet.

Himiko was the first to break eye contact, growing somewhat nervous under his gaze as she couldn't decide on what exactly it was that shone through his eyes. Maybe he was scared to confide in her? If that was the case, she would have to be the one to try and get the ball rolling.

"...So what's up?"

She spoke softly as she tucked a stand of hair behind her ear once more, seeing as it had fallen out of place when she looked away. All the while she could feel his continuous gaze on her, although the emotion behind his eyes began to change.

"Um...well Himiko I came to ask you something, and kinda tell you something first."

He stumbled over his words as he spoke, something that he wasn't used to happening, but he knew with Himiko things were different. He rarely had to ask girls out because most of them swooned over him and jumped at any opportunity to ask him out. It seemed it was his turn to do the confessing now...

She looked over at him, a somewhat knowing expression rising on her face as she realised exactly what was going on here. His words were vague and indirect but she was no fool, at least not a complete fool at that.

"Himiko I really like you...like _really _ like you...I don't think I've ever met anyone quite like you before..."

The dark haired teen explained as clearly as he could through the mass of thoughts going through his head at the current moment. Along with that he had the task of trying not to sound like a complete and utter creep, but by Himiko's reaction he wasn't doing too bad of a job. She smiled and looked down at her feet as a small giggle escaped her mouth, not out of mockery but out of the many times he had said the word "like" in the past 20 seconds. Not to mention that her long white hair covered most of her face to conceal the ever increasing tinge of pink that grew on her cheeks. She was thankful at times like these that her hair was so long...

Out of a sudden surge of confidence, Sasuke regained his charming demeanour and stepped closer to the white haired teen, cupping her check in one hand and angling her face towards him to gain her attention once more. She looked up at him, eyes wide and bright as he spoke once more.

"What I wanted to say was-"

Being unexpectedly cut off mid sentence, Sasuke felt a pair of warm, yet irresistibly soft lips meet his. He began to return kisses as he quickly collected himself after being caught off guard. Safe to say he wasn't expecting that...

It felt like sparks consumed the air around the them as they became closer amidst delegate kisses planted on the each other's lips. Only a few short moments passed that felt like an eternity to both the teens before Himiko pulled away from the kiss. She bit her lip as she stepped back, slightly embarrassed at her sudden outburst in confidence.

Speaking barley above a whisper, she smiled back at him.

"...I feel the same way."

A grin slowly spread its way across Sasuke a face as he stared at the girl in front of him.

"Well damn...I wasn't expecting that."

He chuckled, shaking his head slightly in disbelief. Himiko chuckled along before shrugging her shoulders.

"Neither did I to be honest, I don't know what came over me I'm sorry."

She admitted, her confidence disappearing as quickly as it had come on. She took a step back and scratched the back of her head nervously, although Sasuke took a hold of her wrist as she went to do so.

"No it was good, it was...amazing."

He paused, stopping her dead in her tracks as he looked deep into her emerald eyes.

"Himiko, what I came here to say was...will you be my girlfriend?"

She looked up at him, hope in her eyes but she was still unsure. All of this had happened so quickly, besides he could practically have anyone he wanted, right?

"Are you sure? I mean..."

"I've never been so sure in my life, trust me."

He flashed her grin, full of genuine happiness as he took a hold of her hands. At that moment she was sure of his integrity.

"Then I'm sure too, yes."

She embraced the dark haired teen in a tight hug, burying her head in his neck as he beamed, not that she could see anyway...

A few moments passed before he noticed that the faint sound of music coming from the house got louder and louder, almost too loud. After looking around to see the cause of this sudden increase in noise Sasuke could see the reflection of a certain someone through the kitchen window.

_Naruto..._

It was at that moment that he realised just what song it was that was blasting from the house...one he had heard earlier that day.

_Really Naruto? Sam smith again...I'm gonna have to have a serious talk with that idiot..._

He inwardly thought to himself as he shook his head back at the blonde who gave him a thumbs up from the kitchen window.

* * *

**SO THEY ARE FINALLY TOGETHER AWW :3 Alls seems to be going well in Himiko's world at the moment. **

**So stick around for the next chapter, it should be up soon I don't want yall to wait too long this time! xD**

**Anyways thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed. :)**


	15. Chapter 14

**Just to let you guys know I'm currently going over this story to revamp it a bit and try to improve it in some areas becasue I'm not 100% happy with it, so please bare with me in the meantime. I probally won't update untill have went over the whole story to date but it shouldn't take me too long anyways. I have a lot more planned for this fanfic so it's not going anywhere any time soon! xD **

**But anyways I hope you enjoy this chapter for the meantime, let me know what you think? I do not own anyone or anything within the Naruto universe as much as I would love too. I just own my OC's.**

**Annnnd with all that gibber gabber said, ENJOY! :)**

* * *

Chapter 14 - Haters Gonna Hate

A few days had passed and it was back to school as per usual. Word had surely enough spread about the newly blossomed relationship between Sasuke and Himiko. The news spread like wild fire and people, as they always do, started to talk. It was a new and unnerving sensation for Himiko but Ssuke was clearly used to people making speculations about everything he did. She tried to keep the thought of people talking about her out of her mind for her own sanity, though admittingly she hadn't expected that much attention to circulate around them. I mean why shout it matter, right?

After spending the past half an hour at the back of Mr Hatake's English class, Himiko could still feel the occasional gaze of her classmates despite her best efforts to focus on the lesson at hand. All in all she couldn't quite understand what all the fuss was about. I mean she knew that Sasuke was considered to be some sort of "heart throb" of some sorts within the school, but she guessed she hadn't been in there long enough to comprehend just how much of a big deal this was.

Temari was sat to her left, almost as agitated as she was about the behaviour of their fellow classmates. The blonde tapped the end of her pen on her desk in an attempt to distract herself from the whispers that she knew were about her friend. Himiko on the other hand drowned it out as much as she could by taking notes on everything the grey haired teacher said.

Over the short period of time that she had been attending Konoha High, Himiko had grown quite close to Temari in particular. She was also close with Sakuar as well but they weren't in the saame year so they couldn't talk as much during school. As with Temari, the two became inseperable in school and Himiko considered the blonde to be one of her best friends. They had so much in common, they just clicked yanno?

Eventually the bell rang signalling the end of the waited until everyone else had left the room before packing up

her stuff and leaving with Temari in tow.

"I don't know what the problem is with those idiots...you would almost think they don't have lives at all."

Temari stated as she lifted her schoolbag and swung it over her shoulder, a look of disgust clearly evident on her face.

"I know, I don't see what is so interesting..."

Himiko agreed.

"I'm just thankful Karin isn't in our English class, she would have had a lot to say."

Come to think of it, Himiko hadn't seen Karin at all today, and part of her was glad. After being in the school for a while she had quickly realised Karin was far from the quiet type to sit back at the back of the class. In fact she was more the type to draw attention to herself, for various reasons. She made her presence known and her thoughts and feelings even more so...

Just the thought of having to deal with any form of confrontation from Karin was enough to make Himiko want to go hibernate somewhere. Not that she was scared of Karin or anything, she knew how to stand up for herself when push came to shove, but she just didn't want to have to deal with all the drama and potential repercussions should anything happen.

It was gonna be a long day, Himiko could just tell it.

* * *

On the other side of the school, Sasuke sat at his desk deep in thought as Mr Orochimaru droned on about something science related... To be honest he was out of it from the beginning of the lesson, he was beyond listening at this point.

He awoke from his daze as he felt a hand rest in his shoulder all of a sudden. He cocked his head to the side to see Kiba leaned forward in his seat, grinning from ear to ear as if he had just been handed a wad of money or something...

"So you finally asked Himiko out then?...Got in there first before anyone else."

Sasuke carefully observed the brown haired boy before he replied.

"Dude she's been here for how long? A couple months? And why are you so happy about it anyway?"

He raised an eyebrow in question as he spoke. It just didn't make sense to him; then again nothing made sense when it came to Kiba...

Eventually the bell for lunch rang through the school and the halls once again flooded with students eager to get to the lunch hall.

By the time Sasuke, Kiba and Naruto made it down to the hall they could already spot Temari, Neji and Himiko sitting at their table away in the distance.

Naruto and Kiba chatted amongst themselves as the trio stood at the back of the queue that seemed like it was never going to move.

"So what I hear from Kimmario, Karin's not too happy."

Naruto spoke carefully, unsure of how to feel about his cousin's behaviour.

"You still talk to that dude Kimmimaro? He's a little on the weird side don't you think?"

Kiba questioned, somewhat avoiding the point of the topic but never the less Naruto went with the slight change in topic...

"Yea I talk to him from time to time, yanno? He looks a little scary I'll give you that but he's really smart...I passed the last exams because of that dude."

He chuckled slightly as he trailed off topic unintentionally. Kiba shot him a knowing look before a grin spread across his face.

"I know; I borrow the notes you go from him remeber?"

The two laughed in union as thet remembered the rediculous amount of stress they were under and the desperate measures they went to so as not to fail. They practically went round half of their year before Kimmimaro offered them his notes. He was in the year above them but it was the was thought that counts; besides they passed in the end.

As the queue progressed slightly the trio moved up the line. Sasuke joined the conversation as he snapped out of his thoughts. He overeard what Naruto had said about Karin, admittedly it got to him for a second but now wasn't the time to worrt about it anyhow...

"Yea I remember that, what a miracle that was. But seriously you could have just asked me for the notes."

Sasuke trailed off, distracting himself from the previous thoughts invading his brain.

The queue continued to progress Sasuke, Nauto and Kba individually picked their chose from the selection of sandwiches that the canteen had to offer. Kiba was starving, but from the look of the hot dinner they were offering he was better off with a sandwich...He looked on in disgust as someone In front of them opted for the nasty looking stir fry that portrayed a horrible odour.

Eventually they made their way to the back of the large hall to their usual table. By this time most of their friends were already sat at the table. A roar of laughter erupted from the table as they went to sit down.

Sasuke took one of the last available seats beside Himiko and nudged her in the arm as he sat down. She playfully nudged him back and smiled sweetly.

"Hey."

Sasuke smiled back before taking a sip of his water.

"What were you guys laughing about anyway?"

Naruto spoke up, his loud voice naturally drowning out the surrounding noise of the countless people in the hall.

"Oh nothing, just girl talk don't you worry about it Nauto."

Sakura joked, dismissing his curiosity in one swift sentence. Although Naruto was still slightly suspicious...

"So how about it, wanna go shopping after school?"

The pink haired teen turned her attention to Himiko, Tenten and Temari who were all sat on the other side of the table.

"You know what, after the day I've had I could use with some retail therapy..."

Temari trailed off, looking over to Himiko with a half hearted smile that the white haired teen returned.

"Yeah sounds great! Come on guys no more of this doom and gloom, shopping makes everything better!"

Tenten piped in, bringing some life back into the conversation as she bobbed up and down in excitement.

"Well I've been needing to get some more makeup, and maybe a new pair of shoes or something...okay I'm in!"

Himiko couldn't resist the offer, and after all Tenten was right, shopping never fails to make you feel better after a shitty day.

"Yes! I'm glad you said that because I've been needing to get some new eye shadows and I don't know what colours to go for you know? I don't want anything too "in your face" but I've been kind of at a loss on how to spice things up a bit from my usual palate..."

The guys looked on at Sakura like she had two heads as she delved into a language of beauty products that none of them quite understood. The girls on the other had been engulfed in conversation in a state of excitement.

"Man, girls are crazy...I don't get the logic of buying little boxes of weird stuff that cost a fortune..."

Kiba groaned as we went back to eating the last few bites of his sandwich.

"Makeup aside, you sound like such an old man Kiba."

Gaara joked. Although Kiba did have a point, he had expected those kind of words to come from the likes of Neji...

"That's it! We could have done makeovers at the sleepover...why didn't I think of that before!"

Lee belted from the far end of the table; the first half of them had noticed he was even there.

The whole table fell silent as everyone simultaneously turned to look at him.  
The girls all wore a look of slight confusion whilst the remainder of the table either face plamed or generally looked traumatised.

"W-what?"

Kiba spat out as he almost choked on the last of his sandwich.

The green jumpsuit clad teen wore a proud smile despite the looks he was receiving from his friends. Clearly he hadn't caught on yet...

"Lee...do you hear yourself when you speak?"

Gaara sighed as he looked away momentarily from complete and utter disbelief.

"Well I think you would look pretty with makeup Gaara, why are you dissing his idea for?"

Naruto blurted from the other side of the table, holding back a fit of laughter as he spoke.

A round of laughter irrupted from the table at the thought of Gaara in makeup.

"I'll get you for that one..."

The red head muttered before rolling his eyes and letting a few small chuckles escape his mouth.

Even Sasuke had to wipe a tear from his eye before setting lee straight.

"Lee the sleepover already happened, I'll admit that would have been a good idea at the time but damn..."

"Yea maybe next time eh?"

Naruto added, although no one was quite sure if he was being serious or sarcastic...not that they were going to question.

After a momentary silence amongst the group of teens they soon found themselves immersed in conversation once more.

"Okay so we'll all meet at the school gates after the bell rings? Hope you all brought your money with you!"

Sakura enthused as the sound of the bell finally rung through the hall signalling the end of their lunch break.

The rest of the day had thankfully went by faster than Himiko expected. She walked down the corridors with Temari, and Tenten in tow as they made their way towards the school's main exit.

Turning a corner, Himiko had noticed a few girls in the year below her gossiping about something. She only recognised one of them, a blonde girl who she knew by the name Ino. Sakura had told her a bit about her, and from what she heard she was trouble.

"She's lucky Karin's not in, oh my god she'd be in for it."

The blonde girl sniggered in a hushed tone. Another one of the girls bit back a snide chuckle before joining in.

"I can't believe Sasuke would even show interest in someone like her, look at her clothes, she doesn't even have a sense of style...jeans and Vans are so 2012, and the Beatles? She's such a hipster wannabe."

Another girl said, sniggering to herself as she noticed Himiko and her friends approaching, taking note of what she was wearing.

"She has some nerve I'm telling you, Karin will sort her out eventually though..."

"Oh my God Maki she can hear you hahaha"

The trio passed the gossiping girls, each sharing the same look of disbelief on their faces.

Ino looked over her shoulder at them, leaned against a wall as they passed. All the while she kept her eye on Himiko, the target of her snide comments. Himiko however was far than impressed, staring her out as she passed to for good measure. She wasn't afraid of gossipers in the slightest.

_Sakura was right, this girl is a bitch..._

She hadn't noticed it but Tenten and Temari gave their fair share of dirty looks as they passed, clearly annoyed at the childish behaviour of the other party. In the small amount of time that Himiko had been back in Konoha, she had never made friends quite like the ones she had now, and she was grateful for that.

"One of these days I swear..."

Temari mumbled darkly when they were out of earshot.

Eventually they met up with Sakura at the schools front gate. She had noticed straight away that something was wrong.

"What's wrong, did something happen?"

She questioned as she studied the universal look on their faces.

"Remember you told me about that Ino girl? You were defiantly right about her."

Himiko said bitterly as she felt the anger rising in her chest. A knowing look emerged on the pink haired teens face.

"Ah...she's said something hasn't she?"

The trio nodded in unison, equally annoyed at what they had just witnessed.

"Whatever she said take no notice of her...come on don't let her get you down we've got shopping to do!"

Grinning ear to ear she pulled Himiko, Tmear and Tenten into a group hug. The trio sighed and agreed she was right, haters gonna hate as the saying goes...

* * *

**Thank you guys for reading once again, I'm happy that I've been able to get this far with this fanfiction and Iv'e really enjoyed writing it so far! :) **

**Till next time guys! :) xx**


	16. Chapter 15

**Hello guys! Im sorry for the big wait it took me a while to go over the story and make a few changes to it. Nothing too major or anything but yess I'm back now! I have a few more chapters written out to hopefully get this story up and running again so bre with me in the meantime! xD**

**As always, I do not own anything within the Naruto universe. I only own my OC's Himiko and Mafuyu.**

**With that said, ENJOY! :) **

Chapter 15- shopping shopping shopping!

"Wanna head to to mine for a bit Naruto? Itachis not gonna be home for a while, I think he's preparing for another one of his parties..."

Sasuke explained as the pair made their way out of the school's main doors. By this point most of the school's students had evacuated the building apart from the odd stragglers emptying their lockers.

"Yeah man,"

He replied simply, holding the door open for his friend.

"I picked up a copy of that new soccer game everyone's talking about; I wanted to see if it was worth all the hype."

"Yea Itachi got it too, he's been up all hours of the night playing it for the past few days. That's dedication if you ask me."

Sasuke chuckled.

As the two walked approached his car Sasuke stopped as he felt a vibration from his Jean pocket. He took out his phone and noticed that it was a text from Himiko.

'Just reminding you to tell Naruto that I'm out shopping with the girls so don't wait up on me x'

He smiled down at his phone and leaned on the side of his car subconsciously.

'Naruto's heading to mine for a bit, wanna come up later?'

Sasuke wasn't one for sending hearts and other mushy stuff when he texted, it just wasn't something he did. Although he had to admit it made his heart skip a beat when he got texts from Himiko like that. Not that he would really tell anyone else that...

"HELLOO? EARTH TO SASUKE?"

Sasuke was brought back to reality as Naruto waved a hand in front of his face. He Turned and look at the blonde teen, trying to control the smile that started to spread on his face.

"Oh yea, Himiko said she's out shopping so don't wait on her."

"Okay Romeo stop being all mushy, I remembered her telling me earlier. Now let's go play some electronic soccer!"

He enthused as he opened the car door to get in, not before giving Sasuke a light push to get off the side of the car.

"Alright, you..."

* * *

Across town Himiko, Sakura, Temari and Tenten made their way into the doors of the huge shopping mall complex.

"I can't wait to check out the new makeup counters, I wonder what they have in for this season!"

Sakura enthused while the others thought about what they were going to buy.

Himiko's phone vibrated in her pocket as she got a text from Sasuke. She pulled her phone out of her coat pocket and looked down at the device in we hands.

"OOoOOOoh someone's got a text from their lover."

Temari teased from Himiko's side, catching the attention of Sakura and Tenten as well.

"Please Temari; you have that same stupid look on your face when you get a text from Shikamaru so you can't say anything."

Tenten joked, causing Temari to go bright red.

"Well it's not about me; it's Himiko's time for the teasing. Payback timeeee."

She's giggled as she poked Himiko in the arm playfully.

"Your just looking for a distraction cause you get embarrassed when we talk about *your* lover."

Himiko returned a poke in the arm to Temari before quickly texting Sasuke back.

'Yea I'll be up around 6 x"

"Can we all please stop saying 'lover' we sound like weirdo's."

Sakura laughed as they entered the makeup store.

"Yea I second that haha."

Himiko laughed as she put away her phone.

They browsed the counters one at a time, trying to find exactly what they needed. They decided to split up, Himiko went with Sakura to go check out the eye shadows and Temari and ten went to go find a certain shade of lipstick they thought that Sakura would suit.

As they approached the eye shadow counters, Himiko and Sakura spotted one in particular that caught their eye – the discount counter of course. Not that they were stingy or anything, Sakura was only trying out a new look, she didn't want to spend too much money on something she wasn't even sure she would stick to.

"So what's with the makeup overhaul anyway?"

Himiko inquired, knowing that there had to be something behind this much effort to change her look.

"I just wanted to try out a few new things, Yano? To make me stand out a bit more."

Himiko rolled her eyes playfully, starting to catch on to where this was going.

"Is your bright pink hair not enough to stand out, you get plenty of attention from boys anyway. Or is it something else?"

She took a lock of Sakura's long pink hair and twirled it around her fingers gently as she spoke.

"Himiko..."

Sakura turned to hide her blush as she went to take a sample from the top of the counter. Not fully being able to see what she was doing now, she accidentally knocked into the counter and lost her balance, causing half of the counter to fall with her as she clung to the shelves.

"Oh my god, Sakura are you okay?"

Himiko rushed to her side to see if she was okay after brushing off the array of eye shadow packages that had cracked open on top of her.

"Can I offer some assistance?"

A voice rang out from behind them, one that Himiko swore she recognised.

The two girls turned to see who it was, and as they did Himiko could almost hear Sakura's heart drop out of her chest.

A tall, blonde haired teen with slightly girlish features kneeled down, offering his hand to help Sakura up. As they rose to their feet the some of the remaining eye shadow pigments that clung to her clothes made their way to the floor.

"Are you okay Sakura?"

The teen with long blond hair held on to her as she gained her balance, concern evident on his face.

"Yea...yea I just lost my balance is all."

She cringed and looked down at the holy mess she had created on the floor. Various shades of eye shadow covered the floor like some sort of abstract painting.

It was then that Himiko she realised who he was. Sakura had described him to her before over the phone but she hadn't put 2 and 2 together until she seen the way they acted around each other.

_So this is diedara..._

She thought to herself as she gave him a once over. She noticed that he was wearing all black, clothes that appeared to be a uniform. She then looked to the small white tag that hung from his chest.

_Wait, he's wearing a name tag. He must work here then..._

Himiko face palmed as she inwardly cursed herself. However she decided that she would watch on for now and see how things pan out.

Diedara kept his hold around Sakura as he looked up at him, just now realising that he was an employee of the store.

She stared at his name tag; eyes wide like a deer in headlights.

"S-so you work here then?"

She asked nervously, although she already knew the answer.

"Yea just of late, I've only been here about a month or so."

He said calmly despite the mess that still littered the store.

At that point Sakura had regained her balance and thanked him for his support, literally.

She had noticed all that time she was still holding on to the shade of pink eye shadow that she reached for at the top of the counter, the one that caused all this trouble. She looked down at it in her hand and sighed.

"If I must say, I would go for more brown tones; they would go so much better with your eyes."

Diedara said thoughtfully as he looked over at the dejected Sakura.

She tried her best to hide her blush but she was turning bright red, and Himiko didn't blame her.

She walked over to the two soon to be love birds and addressed diedara so that he would be distracted from Sakura practically turning into a tomato.

"We're so sorry about all this, is there anything we can do to make up for it?"

The senior looked over to her; a small smirk began to grow on his face.

"Well if it's okay could you both help me to clean all this up, my manager will kill me."

He looked off to the back of the store to check if any of the other staff had noticed, but alas they were safe for now.

"I'll get some stuff to clean this up, I'll be right back."

The blonde senior rushed off to the back of the store, momentarily leaving the two girls to start cleaning.

"I can't believe this; he must think I'm such a weirdo."

Sakura tried to joke the whole situation off, but Himiko could tell she was really embarrassed.

"Nah, don't worry about it. He seems pretty relaxed about it all. I just can't believe he works here..."

Himiko trailed off. I mean what were the chances of that? This must be some very poorly presented fate coming into action here...

"Me neither..."

Sakura mumbled as diedara made his way back to the half destroyed counter.

"Here, start sweeping up some of the eye shadow. I'll throw away the boxes."

The three worked quick to clean up the mess before any of the other staff seen anything, and to their surprise no one had even noticed. Phew...

Once they had finished clearing up diedara started fixing up the counter again with some new eye shadows.

"We're so sorry about all that, I know we'll have to pay damages I just hope you don't get fired or anything..."

Sakura apologised one more, still feeling terrible for the destruction she caused.

"Oh don't worry about damages, they were on sale anyway. We needed to get rid of them some way or another haha."

Diedara smiled at them both, though they couldn't quite understand how cheerful he was about the whole thing.

"Are you sure? I mean that was a lot of eye shadows."

Himiko questioned, just to make sure. She was one to pay her debts, after all it was kind of her fault for making Sakura fall in the first place.

"No it's fine, but I'll tell you how you can repay me."

He paused as Himiko and Sakura looked at each other questionably.

"Don't worry it's not anything weird. Itachi's having a party tonight and it would be awesome if you guys could come. It'll be mostly seniors but if you guys wanna bring anyone else along with you that's cool."

"I'm down for that, how about it Sakura?"

"Yea, definitely. Well get Temari and Tenten to go too!"

Sakura beamed.

"Cool, I'll see you guys later then. I have to get back to work now."

Diedara excused himself before going back to whatever he was doing before Himiko and Sakura destroyed part of the shop.

"Well that didn't turn out so bad after all."

Himiko giggled as the two made their way around the shop to find Temari and Tenten.

"That was so embarrassing..."

Sakura pinched the bridge of her nose; she had to admit she didn't expect to get party invitations out of it though...

* * *

Back in the Uchiha household Naruto and Sasuke were sprawled across the living room sofas in the middle of a soccer match. Naruto was winning 2-1 but the game was far from over.

The sudden sound of the front door opening caught Sasuke off guard, so Naruto ceased the opportunity to score another goal while he was distracted.

"3-1 to meeee! Get your head in the game Sasuke."

Naruto's loud voice rang through the living room as Itachi stood in the doorway with an array of bags, all of which filled with glass bottles that were clearly alcohol.

"I just got a text that Sakura and Himiko are coming later, did you guys invite them to the party?"

Itachi leaned on the doorframe, his monotone voice calling over the sound of their game.

"What?"

The two younger teens said in Union.

"I mean I invited Himiko round, but not to come to your party."

"What for then?"

Itachi raised a suspicious eyebrow out of sarcasm, though Naruto didn't seem to take that well, never mind Sasuke himself.

"You Uchiha are disgusting yanno that?"

He said half out of sarcasm as he sat up on the sofa. Sasuke followed suit and took out his phone.

"Hold on I'll ring her now."

* * *

Just as Himiko and Sakura made their way out of the shopping complex with Temari and Tenten in tow, she felt the vibration of her phone in her coat pocket once more.

She stopped for a moment as she reached for her phone, the others stopping too.

"Hello?"

She accepted the call without checking who it was.

"Hey it's Sasuke, are you coming to Itachi's party later?"

"Yea I forgot to tell you, some of the girls are coming too if that's alright."

She looked over at the girls in question as she spoke, still stood outside the doors of the shopping complex.

"Yea that's fine, Itachi just wanted to know is all. He says you guys can come up early if you want, me and Naruto will be here."

* * *

**Thats it for this chapter but I should definatly have more up very soon, so stay tuned!**

**Thank you for reading, hope you've enjoyed so far! :) xx**


	17. Chapter 16

**Sorry guys for the long wait, I really wanted to make this chapter long and I have to say I'm really happy with it! :D(Note: This is actually the longest chapter yet.)  
**

**And before I say anything else, when I read over the chapter again after I gave it a name I really felt like some parts matched the song quite well even though it really wasn't intended. xD **

**But anyways, I hope you enojoy this chapter, it was really fun to write! And more will be coming soon.**

* * *

Chapter 16 - Mr Brightside

**~Later on that day ~**

The girls all stopped by their houses on the way to Sasuke's to get changed and doll themselves up a bit - it was a party after all, with seniors no less.

Himiko changed into plain dark green dress that came just above her knees with a pair of black tights and a pair of black suede ankle boots. Nothing too fancy, but she didn't want to show up in jeans and a t-shirt. She did her usual makeup with a small amount of eyeliner to frame her emerald eyes. She wore her hair down and clipped her fringe to the side.

Once everyone was ready they all proceeded to walk to Sasuke's house. The party wasn't for another hour or so but Itachi had invited them up early anyways.

"I wonder what it's gonna be like, partying with seniors and all that jazz."

Sakura wondered as they neared their destination.

"I know right? The last time we were here Himiko was only new to the school, it was like her first week or something."

"Annnnd now she's dating the person who lives in the house were about to get piss drunk in, we'll done girl!"

Sakura enthused as they approached the house.

They all took a moment to take in the stature of the Uchiha house.

"OOoOoo fancy."

Tenten giggled, it was a good thing they didn't turn up in jeans and a t-shirt...

"You know, sometimes I forget how rich they are and how the hell they get away with so many parties in such a fancy house."

Temari added, still examining the house.

"Okayy we would be best going

In now because God knows we look like weirdo's staring at a house...plus it's not that fancy when you get used to it."

Himiko laughed as they all resumed walking through the front garden and towards the front door.

"Oh yes, you've been here a lot more than we have of course."

Tenten raised an eyebrow sarcastically, a knowing grin on her face.

In any event, they rang the doorbell and moments later the door swung open.

"Hey guys!"

Naruto's loud voice erupted as he stood at the door.

The girls each individually looked at him, naturally taking in what he was wearing because of the nature of the party...and well, being girls and all.

"A white button up shirt; Naruto where did you get that?"

Himiko questioned as she furrowed her brows.

Clearly that shirt wasn't his, Naruto was far too layer back for formal clothes. If she was completely honest, it was weird to see him dressed up so well...

The group of girls looked at him in confusion as he jerked his head back, disgust evident in his face.

"HEY I CAN BE FANCY SOMETIMES OKAY?"

The girls made their way through the door and past the distressed Naruto and made sure to give him a fair share of "Riiight, we believe you" looks as they passed. Himiko however, just stood at the door and stared at him at him with her arms crossed and her eyebrows raised sarcastically.

"...Its Sasuke's okay? I was too lazy to go home and change..."

The blond broke after a few seconds, mumbling under his breath as Himiko too came through the door and patted his head on the way in. She always knew how to get to him; it was one of her super powers...

"See I had a feeling that was it."

She giggled as the two made their way through to the kitchen, seemingly where everyone else was.

Himiko walked in and joined Sakura and Temari just in time to notice that Kiba was there too.

"Damnnn you girls are looking fine."

Kiba made his presence known by wolf whistling from the other side of the room as he was leaned on one of the kitchen counters.

"Why are you here?"

Tenten suddenly blurted out, sounding a lot meaner than she intended but she was sure Kiba could take it...

"Hey, your not the only special guests here yanno. I was invited too. And I take back those complements by the way."

"Okay 'smooth criminal' are you done?"

Sasuke joked, but there was an air of slight annoyance behind his voice.

"Yes if you're all here early, you may as well drink up before the seniors get here."

Itachi walked into the room with a handful or beers.

"Okay, but don't you have anything stronger?"

Temari looked over at the senior with slight disappointment, as if she was some form of seasoned alcoholic or something.

"What?"

She chuckled nervously under the gaze of just about everyone in the room.

"I was thinking of starting you guys off with a couple of beers, but yea I've got some stronger stuff."

"GET STARTED THEN!"

Naruto belted, grabbing two bottles of beer from Itachi's hand and running into the living room to put some music on.

* * *

About 2 hours later the party was in full swing. All of Itachi's friends had arrived, as well as a load of people that Himiko had never seen before. Luckily enough Karin wasn't invited, of all people she just hoped she wouldn't see her tonight...

Himiko was stood in the kitchen with Itachi and Temari seeing as it was the room with the least people in it. Music blared all over the house and within the space of an hour of people arriving, most had started to get tipsy. Himiko had only had about 3 beers in this time, but she planned to have some of this "stronger stuff" next.

"I'll get you guys some vodka or something next, beer doesn't seem to affect you two as much as I'd hoped. But first I'm gonna go have a smoke, do you wanna come?"

Itachi spoke thoughtfully, though the girls could tell that he became much more confident and talkative whilst drinking.

"Yeah why not?"

Himiko shrugged her shoulders as the two made their way out to the back garden oh the house with the senior.

"Don't tell Sasuke thoooo"

Temari teased in a sing song voice, making weird movements as she walked.

"Temari please, I've smoked before. I just like to keep that on the down low so yanno..."

Himiko giggled as Itachi smirked at them, grabbing a box of cigarettes from the back pocket of his trousers.

"So both you guys have smoked before, I don't have to teach anyone?"

"Nooope"

The two girls said in a giggly Union.

The Uchiha took three cigarettes out of the box and handed one to each of the girls. He then took out a lighter and lit up. Passing the lighter along to Himiko first, she then lit up her cigarette too, and Temari followed.

Himiko would smoke on social occasions mostly, but she used to smoke back in Suna with her friends. She decided to kick the habit when she made her new start back in Konoha, now she guessed she was back to it...

"So how are you enjoying the school so far Himiko?"

Itachi questioned as he exhaled a small cloud of smoke. The two looked at her as she flicked the end of her cigarette.

"It's great so far, I've met so many awesome people."

She smiled as Temari nudged her in the arm, knowing she was part of her answer.

"One of the most awesomest being me of course."

The blonde haired girl stated, grinning ear to ear at the other two.

The three laughed in union before being interrupted by Sakura popping her head out the back door.

"Heyyy, we're all out of beers could you get some more?"

The pink haired girl directed at the senior who had just finished his cigarette.

"Yeah, I'll get you guys some cigarettes too while I'm at it. Wait and see when your really drunk you'll be out here all night."

"Thanks Itachi."

Himiko said as she followed everyone else back into the house.

"Hold up with that flirting girl you have a boyfriend."

Sakura whispered to Himiko as they walked through the door.

(Well I now know why all the beers are gone, someone's a bit on the drunk side..)

* * *

On the other side of the house Naruto and Sasuke stood in the front garden with a bottle of beer in each hand as they leaned on the gates of the house.

"Naruto do you have a cigarette?"

Sasuke looked over at his best friend as he spoke, a sense of dreaminess shone in his eyes...No doubt a result of his drinking.

"You don't smoke Sasuke."

"I know but I want one, I know you have some."

"Okay..."

Naruto pulled out two cigarettes out of the small box and rolled his eyes.

"You can't go round telling people though, I know what your like when your drunk Mr."

Naruto spoke as he took the cigarette to his lips, Sasuke following suit as he waited for a lighter.

"It's okay, I just need one...but you can't tell Himiko either, I don't normally do this."

"Secrets all safe with me, though you shouldn't be worried Himiko smokes occasionally too. She tries to hide it but I know her better than that."

"Speaking of Himiko, where is she?"

Now that Sasuke thought of it, he hadn't seen her since Kiba tried to steal her drink and Sasuke took it back off him. That Kiba one is bad enough sober, but drunk kiba is on a whole different level.

After a few seconds of Sasuke's silent ponder, Itachi emerged from the front door, wallet in hand.

"Hey what are you two doing out here, Himiko's in the living room she's looking for you."

Itachi stride towards them with a smile on his face, something Sasuke only witnessed when he was drunk.

"Okay thanks...but where are you going?"

"Just to the shop to go get some more alcohol, do you guys want anything specific?"

"Hmmm, surprise us!"

Naruto called out to the senior as he passed, all the while not noticing that Sasuke and got up and left, his unlit cigarette left behind rested on the gate they had leaned on.

The blonde turned around after a few seconds to see that the cigarette was the only thing left in his presence...

"Well damn, I'm taking that back then"

* * *

Back in the house, the girls were all huddled together in the living room dancing as the music blasted. Many seniors were gathered in the room too but they all appeared to be nice. Kankuro had shown up late and decided to join their little 'clique'.

The seniors taste in music meant that instead of the average 'party music' playing they had more rock themed music instead. Not that anyone minded, most were pretty drunk at is point and were up singing and dancing to just about any song that played.

Sasuke had entered the large living room and spotted Himiko's long white hair that swayed as she danced at the other side of the room. It was at that moment that his heart skipped a beat for the 100th time as he looked at her. He had always thought she was beautiful, but at this very moment he was speechless. He watched as she continued to dance with her friends, and even as she laughed as Kankuro asked her to dance with him (in a friend way) he couldn't help but stare as he took in the way her hair whipped around as she moved, the bright smile on her face as she laughed, the graceful way that her body moved...it all entranced him. He felt his heart beat out of his chest as it was about to explode. He had never felt this way about anyone before. Sure he was the most popular guy in school and could get anyone he wanted, but what he felt right now, he never wanted anyone else but her for the rest of his life. And for him that was kind of scary...but he knew she was the one.

Disturbing his long train of thoughts he noticed Himiko turn around and rush towards him to take a hold of his arm and pull him into the centre of the room to had snapped out of his thoughts quick enough to realise what song had just came on.

Mr Brightside by the killers

_Of course, a classic_

He thought to himself as the room erupted in a roar of drunken enthusiasm and for the first time in a long time Sasuke felt himself grin from ear to ear like a big idiot.

The couple were joined by everyone else in the room that had gotten up for the sake of one song to bust out a few drunken dance moves. Even Diedara had found his way to Sakura and they danced together, along with Temari and Tenten who decided to switch things up in a room of boy-girl dance partners.

By the time the song had ended Itachi had busted into the house with an array of bags that clinked from the sound of glass bottles.

Ignoring his brother's arrival, Sasuke bowed and kissed Himiko's hand gently as the song commenced in true gentlemanly style. She giggled and cupped his cheek, gently guiding him upwards and planting a sweet kiss on his lips.

The whole room once again erupted into a choir of 'oOoOOoOO's as Sasuke blushed and buried his head in the crook of Himiko's neck to hide from the seniors stares.

"Well if you two are done, the extra alcohol has arrived."

Itachi chuckled before making his way back out to the hallway to go to the kitchen. Most of the people in the room followed, which left Sasuke and Himiko with the few people who were too drunk to get up.

"You're an amazing dancer by the way."

Sasuke looked into Himiko's green orbs as he smiled a crooked grin. She looked straight back into his as she chuckled and fixed her hair which had fallen slightly out of place mid dance.

"What, you are. You should definitely teach me a few moves."

Himiko only giggled more; she could tell that he was clearly thinking up all these cheesy complements and gestures with the part of his brain that was drunk. Nor the less it made her blush a shade of red that resembles that of a tomato.

After a few more moments Himiko grabbed Sasuke's hand and dragged him towards the kitchen, deciding that they were not nearly drunk enough for how late it was.

About an hour later Sasuke as Naruto ended up having to bring Kiba home after he had one too many to drink and just about managed to throw up all over the kitchen sink and all the surrounding objects. Himiko ended up being among the group of people who were on clean up duty; though being quite drunk herself she managed to hold herself together.

Once that was done she made her way out the back with the box of cigarettes that Itachi had given her. He was right; once she got a few more drinks in her she had made the back garden her home.

She sat on the edge of the decking that lined the large garden, swinging her legs as she opened the box of cigarettes. Other than her, there was only one person who occupied the back garden and she had only noticed them when she looked around after realising she had no lighter...

The boy, she assumed from his white button up shirt and black trousers sat across from her on the decking, smoking the last of his own cigarette. She looked over at him, noticing that he hair white hair and green eyes similar to her own. He noticed her glance and looked up at her.

"It's nice to see another white haired person for once."

He chuckled lightly, as smooth, almost mellow sounding voice escaped from his mouth.

"I know right? There aren't enough of us around."

The white haired boy, who she had yet to learn the name of, held out his lighter to her as he noticed her play with the box in her hands.

"Thanks."

She smiled politely as she took the small purple lighter from his extended hand.

"I hate to sound creepy, but can I feel your hair? It looks really soft."

The boy paused for a moment and bit his lip out of slight embarrassment. Himiko simply smiled and turned to face him.

"Okay, but you have to tell me your name first. Deal?"

"Fair enough, my name is Kimimaro. I go to your school by the way; I've seen you around a few times."

He smiled sheepishly as Himiko's face lit up.

"Ohh you go to Konoha high? What year?"

"Year 13; the same as you."

Himiko exhaled a small cloud of smoke as she paused for a second.

"Really? Oh my god, I don't think I've seen you around. How could I not notice someone who looks like my twin, I'm so stupid."

She blurted out before realising that she hadn't told him her name yet.

"I'm Himiko by the way and yes you can feel my hair."

She giggled at his weird request, in any other circumstances she would consider that really weird but she could tell he was drunk to so what the heck...

After about half an hour of talking about just about everything, they both decided that it was starting to get cold outside and they both made their way into the kitchen. It was then that they realised how late it was and that most of the people still there had either fallen asleep or were scattered around talking amongst one another.

Kimimaro looked down at his watch and back up to Himiko.

"Well its 3am, I better get going..."

"Your not gonna stay?"

Himiko questioned as she sat down on the sofa in the living room, starting to feel a bit tired herself.

"I'd love to but I think I might overstay my welcome. I had fun though... I'll see you in school twin."

He waved as he walked out to the hallway. And yes, having talked for over half an hour and being undoubtedly drunk the two had come to the conclusion that they were long lost twins or something.

After finally taking her heels off, Sasuke had emerged into the room looking very tired.

"Where's Naruto?"

"He's passed out in the spare room, couldn't handle any more drink so he decided to retire for the night."

Himiko nodded her head in acknowledgement; she wasn't surprised to be honest. He never could handle his liquor anyway.

Sasuke walked over to Himiko and scooped her up off the sofa, carrying her out of the room.

"Where are we going?"

"You look tired, you should get some sleep."

He stated thoughtfully, taking her up the stairs and into a room at the end of the hallway which she assumed was his.

After setting her down on the bed and throwing some pyjamas at her, Sasuke walked into the on suite with his own set of pyjamas before turning to look at her from the door.

"Put those on, don't worry I won't look."

He averted his eyes for a second before realising that Himiko was just sat there staring at him.

"Don't tell me you need help."

"...I kinda do...the zip is at the back of the dress..."

Himiko blushed as she looked over at him with no shirt on, not knowing whether she was blushing at him being half naked or the fact she needed him to help her remove her clothes...

Secretly Sasuke was thankful that the room was dark, as his fierce blush was disguised by the minimal amount of light that shine through the blinds.

He walked over to Himiko and she stood up to turn her back to him so that he could unzip the dress.

She felt his cold hands brush over her shoulders and across her back as he couldn't really see what he was doing. The rush of cold against her warm skin sent a small shiver down her spine. He quickly unzipped the dress and helped to get her arms out of the sleeves before retreating back to the on suite quickly.

She could tell he was slightly nervous but she knew he wouldn't have done anything despite being drunk.

After a few minutes Sasuke re-emerged from the bathroom in his pyjamas to find Himiko curled up in a ball in his bed clad in one of his old t-shirts that looked way too big on her.

He just stood there for a few moments taking in her beauty before getting into bed as well and wrapping his arms around her gently so as not to wake her up.

"I love you."

He whispered softly as he buried his face in her long white hair, drifting off into a deep sleep.

* * *

**Awww :3 I think I'm getting better at writing mushy love stuff now it's so weird. **

**But thanks for reading, stay tuned cause theres loads more to come! :) xx**


	18. Chapter 17

**Hi guys, I'm back with another chapter! :) Its coming up to christmas now and I'm off school so I'll have more time to update and stuff so get ready for more chapters coming your way.**

**Also I'd like to request that If any of you guys could spare some time to write me a review? I'd just like to get a little feedback to see how your all liking it so far and if there's any suggestions you have. It's very much apriciated. :)**

**As always I don't own anything from the Naruto universe, but I own my OC's. ENJOY! :D**

* * *

Chapter 17 - Something to settle...

It was now about a week after the party had taken place and Sasuke and Himiko had grown ever closer, to the point she would go to his house nearly every day after school. Things with Sakura and diedara were also going well, though they weren't officially a 'thing' just yet.

Himiko walked through the gates of Konoha High at the very late timing of 12:56pm. It seemed her normal school routine had been interrupted for the day as she had to go for a check-up at the dentist. How she hated dentists...but alas it was something important she had to do and she was given the all clear, yay.

At any rate, the bell signalling the end of lunch had just went and she needed to get to class quick so, she cut through the schools car park to save time. Just as she neared the school's main entrance she got a bad feeling, as if someone was watching her or something...

"Hey Himiko!"

A voice called in the distance, one that she recognised instantly as someone she did not want to be around.

She turned around to see Karin and her squad of gossipers huddled in a group. Karin's cold glare was intense, and if Himiko knew anything at all, she knew that something was about to go down.

"I heard all about you and my boy Sasuke, what's up with that, huh?"

She smiled fakely, hatred dripping from every word.

Himiko looked around the schools car park. By this time there were hardly any people around as they had all went back to class, it was the perfect timing for an ambush.

She carefully thought of any possible ways to get out of this horrible situation, but alas her mind drew blank.

"Well?!"

Karin's voice raised in pitch, a screeching sound erupting from her mouth as she grew ever more impatient.

"Look I don't know why it matters to you Karin; I haven't done anything to-"

"Oh really? Done nothing have you?"

The red haired girl cut her off, her face just about matching her hair in colour as she looked like she was about to explode.

"Sasuke was mine before you came along. You just had to go and ruin everything."

She looked Himiko up and down in disgust, her friends become more and more aggressive as they too joined in.

"You can't just waltz in here and steal people's boyfriends you know!"

Ino piped in, her hands on her hips.

"Ex-boyfriend."

Himiko replied harshly as she gritted her teeth. Himiko really started to lose her patients at this point, she was no boyfriend stealer. Sasuke clearly wanted nothing to do with that skank.

"For your information Karin, Sasuke was the one that asked me out, so before you come throwing your weight around like you own the show go check the facts first."

The parking lot went deathly silent as Karin's mouth hung open, much like the rest of her crew. The red head gathered herself and took a few steps forward, and if she couldn't have gotten any angrier, she sure as hell just did.

"Look bitch, I don't care. You can't interfere with true love. And in case you haven't noticed, I run this school not you."

She continued to step forward until she was right in her face. Himiko was unphased and squared up to her, returning a heated glare.

"You don't run anything sweetie, you just stomp around thinking your something special-"

Himiko's poisonous words were cut short as she felt a hand connect with her face. She took a step back and held her left cheek as it throbbed, looking up at the red head who smirked proudly.

"Who the fuck do you think you are?!"

Himiko shouted in Karin's face, still in shock at what had just happened.

The next few seconds passed by like an instant and the next thing she knew Karin had shoved her back against a wall and she hit the back of her head hard.

Himiko wasn't a violent person but when she got angry there was no holding back, she had been provoked after all. She wasn't going to stand there and take that from someone, especially not Karin. She was sick of having to cower away and let her think that she could do whatever she wants...someone had to stand up to Karin, so it may as well be her.

The anger soared in Himiko's chest and she lost herself in a blind rage. She instantly snapped back, punching Karin square in the nose causing her to take a few steps back and hold her face.

Her crew of gossips froze in fear, although Ino stepped forward to back her up.

"No, this fight is mine..."

Karin mumbled darkly, a side of her that Himiko was sure Ino had never seen. Regardless she backed off and watched on as Himiko caught the red head off guard.

She lunged at the Karin and took a grip of her long red hair, pulling tightly so she was forced to slouch down. Karin followed suit, gabbing a clump of hair at the back of Himiko's head to pull her head back.

The two exchanged punches like it was some sort of dirty boxing match until Karin slid her foot out to the side and tripped Himiko up. She fell to the ground with a loud thud and hissed as Karin still had a hold of her hair. However, she used this to her advantage and kicked her in the leg, making Karin loose her footing and fall as well. Karin screamed as Himiko tugged on her hair, ripping a clump of it out of her head.

The sound of the two fighting had started to attract the attention of people in the classes near the car park. Karin's squad had dispersed and where nowhere to be seen. The two continued fighting on the ground, by this point the two were looking rough but neither cared, they had something to settle.

Soon enough there was a crowd of what looked to be seniors gathered around the two girls. Himiko recognised the cheers of several people, which she assumed to be Itachi's friends.

"This is better than WWE!"

"Get her!"

"Did you see that left hook, oh my God?"

After what seemed like an eternity their fight was put to an end as an array of teachers pushed through the crowd and separated them.

"ALRIGHT, WHATS GOING ON HERE?"

Tsunade bellowed as she looked down at the two girls. She swiftly took a hold of the collar of Karin's shirt and yanked her up off of Himiko to separate them.

Mr Orochimaru knelt down to help Himiko up as well, although he was far gentler about it.

"Would you two like to explain what the hell you are doing? This is a school, not a boxing ring!"

Tsunade continued to shout over the crowd of seniors that surrounded the scene.

"SHE STARTED IT!"

Karin shrieked as she held onto her nose, which was bleeding. She lunged forward in an attempt to get at Himiko again but Tsunade simply yanked her back by the collar and she fell to the ground from losing her balance.

Himiko however remained silent as she held on to her ribs in pain. Mr Orochimaru kept a hold of her so she wouldn't fall as he could tell she was injured.

"I don't care who started it, you are young ladies not a pair of rabid animals, get to my office now!"

Mrs Shizune made her way through the crowd and helped Karin off the ground. She looked over to Himiko and frowned, disappointment and worry plastered on her face.

"Principle Tsunade these two will have to go to the hospital to be checked over. By the looks of it they did each other quite a bit of damage for a playground tussle."

Her last remark obviously being sarcastic but other than that she was deadly serious. Karin was covered in blood that leaked from her nose, which was slightly out of place and slanted to one side. There was also the matter of having a bald spot at the front of her head from having her hair pulled out. And her left cheek had also began to swell up, not to mention her glasses were history...

Himiko was also covered in the blood that leaked from Karin's nose but also from her newly busted lip. Along with that the knuckles on her left had were covered with blood and looked out of place, probably broken. But her ribs felt like a whole other story.

Tsunade crossed her arms and took a few moments to think. However it was obvious that her anger hadn't subsided yet.

"Okay Shizune you take Karin to the hospital, I'll have someone accompany Himiko...I want to see you both in my office tomorrow morning you hear?"

Himiko nodded, now that she took a moment to think about what just happened she was pretty embarrassed, especially knowing that the seniors basically had front row seats to what just happened.

As Mr Orochimaru helped her along, she noticed that Itachi had stepped forward to speak to Tsunade.

_Itachi? I didn't even realise he was here, did he see all that? Damn it..._

She inwardly cursed herself as Tsunade called her over.

"Himiko, Itachi here will accompany you to the hospital. He's a mature student so I trust he will keep things under control."

She gestured to the black haired senior that stood beside her with his usual poker face. Although Himiko could have sworn she could see a bit of worry behind his eyes...

"Do you need me to support you?"

He questioned as he looked down, noticing that Mr Orochimaru was still there helping her stand.

She nodded her head sheepishly, still slightly embarrassed about the whole thing.

He came over and took a hold of her right arm, slinging it over his shoulder and wrapping his arm around her waist, trying to avoid touching her ribs in the process. He was quite a bit taller than her but he tried his best to support her without making things worse.

The rest of the teachers dispersed the crowd of seniors and told them to go back to class. As they were about to leave for the hospital principle Tsunade looked her dead in the eye, a look of worry and disappointment evident on her face.

"Himiko I'm really disappointed in you..."

She spoke quietly, barley above a whisper, almost as if she couldn't believe the words coming out of her own mouth.

A pang of shame plucked at Himiko's heart, though she couldn't be sure it wasn't from some sort of injury she acquired. Now that the adrenaline had worn off she was in agony, Karin may be scrawny but when it came down to it she could pack a punch. Speaking of punches, her left hand had started to swell from what she assumed were her punching Karin's face too hard...

In any event, Itachi helped Himiko into his car before driving in the direction of the nearest hospital.

The two sat in a somewhat awkward silence other than the odd groan that escaped Himiko's mouth out of pain. To be honest Himiko was too embarrassed to say anything to him. Despite his kindness at the partly last week she had never really seen or talked to him. Heck, up until recently she thought of him as some sort of hermit who hides in the shadows and avoids people, but maybe that was just her...

Itachi looked over to her and smiled sympathetically.

"That looks like it's going to be broken."

He stated, referring to Himiko's knuckles.

She looked down at them and noticed a purple tint to the skin around them.

"What the hell even happened?"

"It all went by so fast, I didn't mean for this to happen but Karin hit me first...so I had to do something."

She admitted, looking out the car window to see the sun shining off the many buildings they passed.

"I had a feeling it was Karin that started it, I never liked that girl. Something's just not right about her."

Itachi stated, although he didn't know Himiko that well he at least knew that she wouldn't go out of her way to pick a fight.

"I better call Jiriya when we get to the hospital he'll want to hear about this, your brother too."

Himiko simply nodded in agreement.

Sasuke and Naruto looked at each other in confusion. They were in the middle of gym class when an announcement was made over the school PA system for all teachers to report to the school's main entrance. The class had been left to their own devises as Mr Guy ran out of the gym hall. It must have been some sort of emergency, but all they knew was that they had to stay put.

"I wonder what's going on..."

Naruto mused as he and Sasuke went to sit down on one of the benches that lined the gym hall. Kiba and Shikamaru had joined them and sat on the floor.

"It's not often we get out of gym class so I'm not complaining..."

Shikamaru yawned as he leaned on one of the benches from his position on the floor.

After a couple of minutes one of the seniors busted through the gym doors. He was one of Itachi's friends, Sasuke had recognised his signature grey slicked back hair and giant sliver chain hanging from his chest.

"Guys there's some fight outside and I've been told to make sure no one leaves the hall."

"Really, it's not Diedara again is it? That guys always getting into fights.."

Naruto rolled his eyes, in the past year alone Diedara had gotten into at least 8 fights. Sometimes it's hard to believe he was even allowed back in school.

"Actually its two girls, but I haven't got a clue who they are."

"Girls?"

They all said in Union...what kind of girls fight in school anyway?

* * *

**Annnnnd as you can see things are starting to heat up in Himiko's world xD**

**I should be back soon with some more chapters, and happy holidays to everyone btw!**

**Thanks for reading. :3 xx**


	19. Chapter 18

**Hey Guys I'm back with another chapter! I'd like to say thank you for the reviews that I've gotten, particularly from Kuromeido. More reviews are welcome of course, I'd like to get as much feedback as possible! :D**

**There's not much to this chapter I'm sorry to admit but I promise the next one will be a lot more exciting. This one is just kind of building up for now and I wanted to give a little bit more background information for Himiko while I was at it.**

**And as always I do not own anyone or thing from the Naruto Universe, just my OC's Himiko and Mafuyu.**

** With all that said, ENJOY :)**

* * *

Chapter 18 - Aftermath

Himiko sat at the edge of the hospital bed. Itachi had just finished filling out some forms seeing as her left hand was swollen, conveniently being the one she writes with.

By the time the queue in the A&amp;E department got to her it had been about 45 minutes and she was starting to lose patience. Not that she would mind normally but she was in excruciating pain as both her hand and her ribs throbbed uncontrollably.

"I'm gonna to go call Sasuke; he and Naruto should be getting out of school about now. Do you want me to call Jiriya too? I'm sure he and your bother would want to know what happened."

Itachi spoke carefully as he rose from the chair that was situated beside the bed. Himiko simply nodded in response, looking up at the clock on the wall as he left the room.

_It's already __3:30__?__ I can't wait to get home; I just want this day to be over with already..._

She thought to herself. Not only did she just want to go home to get some much needed rest, but she hated hospitals. The white walls, white everything...it was just horrible. Come to think of it, the last time she had been in a hospital was the night her father died.

She looked down at the floor, head hung low as a wave of repressed emotions came over her.

It had been a while since she last thought about her father. She tried not to think about it at all to keep strong. All in all it hadn't been that long since he had died. About 6 months if she remembered correctly...

She sat alone in silence in the cramped white room, similar to the one her father passed away in. Memories of her father and brother invaded her mind, visions of them before they had moved away to Suna. Things were a lot simpler then...

Himiko's father, in his later years had become quite cold. The sudden and untimely death of Himiko's mother had hit him hard, and many would say it changed him completely. Of course, Himiko herself was too young to remember him in any other way than the reserved, and ill tempered man that he had become. Mafuyu had always spoke well of their father, but Himiko had always felt that he was distant. In some ways she felt that she never really got to know him for who he really was, and that was something that she always regretted. A few days after moving back to Konoha on her own Jiriya sat her down and told some old stories of the things he and her father would get up to when they were younger. In Jiriya words Himiko's father was a caring person who always looked out for the people he held dear. He also told her about their crazy adventures they used to go on, being away for days at a time camping out in the country with nothing but a tent, a radio and of course a couple of beers.

Himiko brought herself back to reality, deciding that now wouldn't be the best time to start delving into memories like that. She took a moment to collect herself and wipe away the stray tear that threatened to run down her cheek.

A few moments later Itachi retuned with a nurse. He stared at her, and he could just tell that she had been crying, the look on his face said it all.

"Are you okay Himiko?"

He spoke softly, sitting down on the chair close beside the bed.

Himiko looked down at her hand and smiled weakly, trying to make it look like she was distracted.

"...Yea I'm fine, just in a bit of pain is all."

She could hear the faint sigh of Itachi beside her as she spoke.

"Your right about my hand though, the nurse told me it's definitely broken."

She chuckled half heartedly in an attempt to lighten the mood. Itachi however, just kept his poker face, which didn't help the atmosphere much.

Moments later Sasuke and Naruto busted through the door causing it to slam against the wall.

"Himiko are you okay!?"

They both questioned In union, a matching tone of panic in their voices. Sasuke rushed to her side and examined the bruising on her knuckles, taking a gentle hold of her hand.

"I heard what happened...I can't believe she would go this far."

He looked down at the floor in shame, feeling guilty for not being able to do anything, for not being able to protect her from all this in the first place. To see her hurt like this, fundamentally because of him, he couldn't stand it. It was just about the last thing he wanted.

However she put on a brave face and cupped Sasuke's cheek with the hand that want damaged, caressing the side of his face softly. He looked down at her and smiled half heartedly.

"It's okay, I got her back. I wouldn't let her start something without doing a bit of damage myself."

They both smirked at her comment, as she was finally able to bring him back to his normal self. He took a seat beside her on the bed and leaned his head on her shoulder, seeing as it was just about the only way he could show affection without hurting her.

"Himiko I'm so sorry, I should have had a talk with her to prevent something like this from happening..."

Naruto stood in front of her, arms limp and looking overall dejected.

"Come on...it's alright Naruto. I doubt she would have listened to what you had to say anyway. It's Karin after all."

She placed a hand on Naruto's forearm, the only way she could reassure her friend without straining herself. She hated moments like this, she felt vulnerable, fragile even.

* * *

After about 20 minutes Sasuke and Itachi decided to go outside for some air. Partly due to Itachi's smoking habit, but Himiko understood. Being cooped up in such a small room like this would drive anyone mad; she was even tempted to go outside herself.

Mafuyu had sent her a text that he and Jiriya were on their way. He had to get Jiriya out of work and the traffic had started to pick up so they were probably going to be a while.

She sat alone in the room with Naruto, who got more and more angry as the minuets passed.

"I can't believe this. I talked to her about this, why didn't she listen to me..."

Naruto let his thoughts trail, speaking them aloud. The frustration in his voice was evident, though Himiko wasn't exactly sure what he was talking about.

"That day Karin called to our house drenched from the rain, I told her that day that she needed to move on. She was holding on to something that was never going to happen again, something that should have never happened in the first place. They weren't right for each other, anyone could have seen that, but it wasn't my place to interfere. You have to understand that the relationship they had, It wasn't healthy. And yet she still continues down this path of destruction, by hurting you now because you've found love with someone she had a claim on. She needs to stop all this madness."

Naruto let out all of his thoughts at once, the information hitting Himiko in waves. She was taken back, but now it all made sense to her.

"Why does she have this _cling_ to him?"

Himiko questioned, feeling that she was really starting to understand the situation, save for one aspect.

"If anyone knew the answer to that then all of this wouldn't have happened."

The blonde admitted.

* * *

**Outside Konoha General Hospital ~**

"Itachi I have to do something..."

Sasuke blurted out after exhaling from a cigarette that his older brother had given him.

"I know, but don't make any rash decisions now. Wait until you've calmed down a bit at least."

Itachi, the only voice of reason in the current moment, spoke calmly. By the look on his face the elder Uchiha was also thinking of what to do next.

"I can't believe she would attack her, has she gone crazy or something! Who does that?"

The black haired teen started to pace as he through the last of his cigarette to the ground furiously.

"Clam down Sasuke, getting angry like that doesn't help."

The stern voice of his elder brother silenced him for a moment before he took a deep breath.

"Okay, I'm just gonna have to talk to her then. There's no other way to get the message through."

"Take Naruto with you, he'll be able to reason with her better. But for God's sake don't do anything stupid you hear me?"

* * *

Inside the hospital Himiko sat on the edge of the bed with Naruto. Jiriya and Mafuyu had just arrived and stood in the doorway.

"You're sure you're okay Himiko?"

The concerned voice of Mafuyu was the only sound that erupted in the otherwise silent room.

"Yeah, I'm just worried about going to school tomorrow. I don't want any more crazy stuff happening..."

Silence fell on the room again for what seemed like an eternity before Jiriya finally spoke up.

"I think I should have a talk with Principle Tsunade. I don't want any more violence going on here. I was given the responsibility of keeping you safe now that your father is gone and I plan on doing just that."

Himiko looked up at the white haired man that stood across from her. She had never seen him like this before, he looked as if he was about to explode or something. But regardless she was grateful that he, like everyone else that gathered into the room, was here to support her.

A few moments later Itachi appeared in the doorway with a nurse. She approached the bed and looked down at her clip board.

"We've given you a look over, your ribs should be fine but I suspect there still going to be sore for the next few days. Your hand should heal up, too given time, but I've prescribed you some painkillers for the meantime. If you're still in pain this time next week you should come back, but other than that your fit to go."

She smiled warmly as she looked down at the teen; a somewhat motherly air came from her.

"Now you can relax and get pampered for a few days."

The nurse chuckled lightly as she looked over to Jiriya and Mafuyu, and the look on their faces said it all. She gave a small nod of acknowledgement before leaving the room once more.

"No pampering for you young lady, you have school tomorrow. Lets go."

Jiriya joked before helping Himiko off the bed and out of the small cramped room that everyone was glad to get away from.

* * *

**That's It for another Chapter guys! The next one should be up soon as I've already started writing it so hopefully I'll not be too busy and I can get it up as soon as possible. :)**

**Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed. :) xx **


	20. Chapter 19

**Sorry for the delay in this chapter guys, my computer decided to break and I couldn't get it fixed for a while :/. But I'm back with another chapter and things should be starting to pick up now! I'd also like to say thanks for the reviews, they really make my day to see that people are liking the story so far :3 . **

**(There's the odd bad word or two in this chapter so just a heads up. But from previous chapters you're probably used to it by now. xD)**

**As per usual, I don't own anything or anyone from the Naruto Universe, just my lovely OC's. And Enjoy! :)**

* * *

Chapter 19: Early Morning Coffee

After being in the hospital for what seemed like an eternity, Himiko has finally made it home. Itachi and Sasuke tagged along seeing as Jiriya had offered to buy everyone a pizza after the stressful ordeal.

They all piled into the small bungalow and sat down in the living room, though they made sure not to squish Himiko in the process. The atmosphere had begun to lighten as they waited on the ridiculous amount of food they ordered.

"Man, I'm so hungry I could eat a horse."

Naruto slumped down on the sofa and sprawled himself out in his usual position.

"If you say that one more time I'm gonna find you a horse to eat."

Sasuke retorted as he sat next to Himiko on the sofa, the two barley had room to sit with Naruto hogging most of the room.

"Yea, well you look like a horse okay?"

Naruto blurted out sarcastically and the room erupted into laughter. Even Himiko couldn't help but chuckle along despite the pain of laughing.

"Ha! That's a good one!"

Mafuyu called all the way from the kitchen in a fit of laughter.

"That doesn't even make sense..."

Sasuke mumbled as he rolled his eyes, clearly not amused by the whole situation.

Once they all stuffed themselves with the pizza and various side orders the house started to quiet down again. Himiko in particular was getting tired so she retired to her bedroom for the night. Itachi decided to head home for the night, but Sasuke insisted on staying for a while longer to talk a few things through.

He and Naruto sat in the living room with the TV on in the background. The dim light of the room gave a somewhat sombre atmosphere as the two looked at each other.

"So what are we going to do?"

Sasuke prompted the conversation, a serious tone evident in his voice now.

"I think we should talk to her, I don't know how much use it will do but we can't sit and do nothing."

"Your right..."

The black haired teen trailed of as his mind worked overtime.

"I'd say it's best to just leave it for the night at least. It's been one hell of a day, but we should meet up in the morning or something once we've got some sleep..."

"Okay, but what time you talking about?"

Signs of tiredness began to show on both of the teen's faces. It was starting to get late, and they both had school in the morning.

"What about before school? Himiko and Jiriya have to leave super early to talk to principle Tsunade so the coast will be clear about half 7 if you're up for that?"

"Okay, but you supply the coffee. And none of that watered down shit with milk; if I'm getting up that early I need the hard stuff."

Naruto rolled his eyes before agreeing. He was right, by the time they walk into school they'll both look like zombies after the day they've had.

After a few moments of rubbing the tiredness from his eyes, Sasuke got up and made his way out of the room.

"I'm gonna go check on Himiko but I'll catch you later alright? And don't be calling me all hours of the morning to get me up or I'll have something to say about it."

He looked back at his best friend with a smirk on his face, which Naruto returned.

"Don't worry I'm well aware you need your beauty sleep."

* * *

Sasuke knocked gently on Himiko's door before entering the small box room to see her lying in her bed, eyes wide open.

He approached her and sat down on the edge of the bed, a gentle smile lining his face.

"How you holding up?"

She looked over to him and extended the hand that hadn't been damaged for him to hold, which he gladly took.

"I'm not too bad, just a bit sore is all."

She put on a brave face but he saw right through it.

"I'm gonna talk to her, she can't act like this and I want her to hear it from me. She won't come near you ever again I promise."

"It's okay I doubt she would do anything again."

Sasuke sighed and looked away from her as he felt anger rise in his chest.

"You don't know her like I do, if she's willing to go this far once then she would have no problem doing it again and I can't risk that. I'm gonna put a stop to this, and Naruto has agreed to help."

The room fell silent as the frustration in his voice grew. Himiko knew something needed to be done about this; she knew that no matter what principle Tsunade said she wouldn't get through to her. She just didn't want this to become any bigger of a mess than it already was, especially if it meant putting Sasuke and Naruto at risk.

"...Okay, but just don't do anything crazy. I trust you, but I don't trust her is what I'm trying to say."

He brought his pinkie finger up in the air and locked it with hers.

"I promise I won't do anything crazy. I just want to clear up the shit that should have been cleared up in the first place."

And with that Sasuke leaned forward to plant a soft kiss on Himiko's lips to seal the deal.

"Now, you look tired you should get some sleep."

"...Not without you."

She looked up at him with puppy dog eyes that she knew he couldn't resist. And just like that he broke, getting up and walking round to the other side of the bed before lifting the covers and getting in too.

He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and gently pulled her in close so she could lean her head on his chest.

"Now you get some sleep before I call Naruto in here to steal that teddy bear that he's got his eye on."

Referring to 'Snowy' the bear, Himiko scooped the stuffed animal up into the crook of her arm and mockingly give Sasuke a dirty look.

"You wouldn't dare."

He simply smiled and kissed her forehead as she quickly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

After waking up a few hours later and checking the clock placed on the bed stand, Sasuke realised how late it was. It was 2 am and he had school in the morning...

Looking down at a sleeping Himiko he took in the small details in the features of her face. He had to admit to himself he was never one to be this mushy but he never felt like this with anyone else before, certainly not Karin. And that's exactly why he couldn't let her, nor himself fuck this up, because he knew he would end up regretting it for the rest of his life.

He slowly and carefully slipped out of the bed and draped the blanket over her before tip toeing out of the room. The bungalow was completely silent other than the s creaking of the floorboards as he made his way down the hallway. He noticed a dim light coming from the living room as he passed and noticed Himiko's brother Mafuyu sitting on the edge of the sofa.

The grey haired soldier looked over at him through the living rooms glass door and beckoned him in with his hand. Of all times it would just have to be now to get his ass kicked by a buff soldier...

He entered the room quietly and stood across from the sofa that Mafuyu was seated on.

"I'd like to ask you something."

The young adult stated calmly but Sasuke could tell that he was holding back for the sake of not waking everyone up. He gave no reply but nodded as he looked him straight in the eye.

"Who was that girl that picked a fight with Himiko? I've been told her name is Karin."

Sasuke took a breath before trying his best to explain.

"She's a relative or Naturo's...but the reason that she picked a fight with Himiko is because I-I used to go out with her."

The teen could see the muscles in the soldier's body tense up as he furrowed his brows deeply. His mouth formed into a straight line for a few seconds before he opened his mouth to speak.

"-but let me explain, I didn't mean for this to happen. My relationship with that girl is long over, and Naruto could tell you that himself. It's just...well she's not one to let go very easily and i know i need to sort this out-"

"Yes, yes you do."

Mafuyu spoke firmly, and honestly Sasuke didn't blame him. If it were his little sister he would have straight out beat the guy who caused this sort of mess, but thankfully Mafuyu hadn't attempted that yet.

"That's my little sister and I'm not going to stand to see her get hurt. So you better come up with some ideas quick. I like you Sasuke, but I'm not willing to let that change anything, even if you are Naruto's friend as well."

"I understand."

"Good... because I'm not going to be around for much longer, and I don't want to have to go back to war worrying about the safety of my family."

And with that Sasuke simply nodded before turning to leave the room. Mafuyu had made himself perfectly clear and Sasuke was now as adamant as ever to make sure that this was sorted out once and for all.

* * *

The next morning Himiko had arrived early to school with Jiriya in tow for a meeting with principle Tsunade. She was still tired from all the events from the day before and she already knew that this wasn't going to be sunshine and daisies, especially for it being 8 o'clock in the morning...

Principle Tsunade appeared from the door of her office and gave a frown in Jiriya's direction. One in which Jiriya returned.

"Come on in Himiko, I've just finished talking to Karin and I'd like to talk to you both together."

* * *

Meanwhile back at Jiriya's bungalow, Naruto and Sasuke had gathered in the living room over a strong cup of coffee to discuss their approach to sorting everything out.

"Okay, I say you text her asking to meet up but don't t tell her that I'll be there."

"She won't come if she thinks it's just me, I've already tried to warn her about this shit. You should text her, if she's willing to start a fight over you then she'd be willing to meet up with you. I'll just conveniently tag along."

Naruto sighed as he took a sip of his second coffee of the morning.

"Your right, she might think I just want to hang out or something..."

"We should do it somewhere public too, just to be on the safe side."

"I hate to say it but she's just a girl, not some hardened criminal or something. What's the worst she could do?"

"Well we've already seen an example of what she can do and I think that surprised all of us, did it not?"

"I suppose so. I guess we should do it after school, it would catch her off guard."

"Yeah, your right. It's sorted then, see what a couple of cups of coffee can produce this early in the morning."

The blonde teen raised his cup in triumph, finally lightening the mood.

* * *

Back at school Himiko sat meekly in her seat across from Tsunade desk. Karin and her guardian were conveniently situated at the opposite end of the desk, Karin and Himiko being sat the furthest apart.

"So, considering all the factors that have been discussed, it has been agreed that the best option is not to suspend either of you. But be warned if I hear of any more nonsense from you two I will not hesitate to have you out of here, you hear me?"

The room was deathly silent, and even Karin knew not to protest to that.

After promptly clearing her throat and leaning her elbows on her desk, Tsunade continued.

"Now, you will also be separated in your classes, so that there is no temptation for any more confrontations. I understand that means you will be separated from your friends, but you probably should have thought about the consequences before throwing punches like that."

Jiriya and Karin's guardians' silent nods of approval were the only reactions that Tsunade needed before concluding the meeting.

"Now I'm sure you both are dying to get to class, I'll need to talk some more to your guardians but I hope this will be the last time I'll have to resort to meetings with families."

The two girls nodded before they were dismissed. Karin was the first to get up and leave with her new timetable to go find her class. Himiko decided to wait a few moments before leaving herself to make sure she didn't run into Karin on her way to her new science class that she had first thing.

* * *

After about 10 minutes of killing time walking the hallways and trying to avoid the attention of the other students as they went to their own classes, she reached her destination. Previously Himiko had science with Mr. Yakushi but she was now in Mr. Orochimaru's class. Perfect...

Himiko approached the door of the classroom and inwardly cursed herself.

_God, why do I get myself into these situations... Its gonna be like my first day all over again_

She took a breath before opening the door to the science class that was taking place. She stepped into the room quietly and looked over to Mr. Orochimaru who was taking the class. It didn't take long for him to notice her entrance and look over to her, along with just about everyone else in the class. She had to admit she had started to come out of her shell a bit but the thought of all these people staring at her knowing exactly why she was here was still unnerving.

"Ah yes, come on in Himiko, i have a seat already assigned for you at the back of the room there beside Kimimaro. Don't worry, he won't bite..."

It was at that point that a light bulb had gone off in Himiko's head.

_Kimimaro...I remember him, we talked at Itachi's party the other week. Maybe things won't be too bad after all_

She made her way down to her seat, trying to ignore the stares of the whole class, not to mention the whispers.

"That's that girl who fought with Karin..."

"What kind of girl fights in school she should be ashamed of herself..."

"Yeah, but I heard Karin started it, she had it coming."

All the while as she walked she kept her eyes on the seat next to her white haired acquaintance. She could see Kimimaro give her a small smile out of the corner of her aye as she sat down in her seat. After a moment of collecting herself she looked over to him and returned a smile.

By this point Mr. Orochimaru had continued with the lesson and most of the class went back to taking down notes about whatever it was he was teaching today. Save for the few gossipers that still managed to stare at her; she wondered if their necks were sore by now from having to turn in their seats...

"Hey, fancy seeing you here."

He chuckled slightly to lighten the mood but Himiko grimaced.

"I take it you heard about what happened then?"

She sunk in her seat and looked down at her newly assigned desk in embarrassment, but Kimimaro simply gave her a reassuring smile.

"Yeah, I have to admit I was shocked when i found out about it, but from what I heard Karin started it. And I don't find that hard to believe at all, that girl is crazy.

"I didn't expect things to go that far either...but it's done with now I suppose, I can't really do anything about it."

"Nah I wouldn't worry, people always find something to talk about. Something new will catch their attention tomorrow I'm sure."

"I just feel like their staring at me like I'm some sort of wild animal or something, even though they don't know the full story. And now most of my classes have been moved I don't know many people."

"Well don't worry your white haired twin is here to save the day, I've got your back."

Kimimaro gave her a small nudge to the shoulder prompting a smile finally appear on Himiko's face.

"Well as long as I've got my trusty twin here, I suppose I'll be okay."

After about 10 minutes of listening to Orochimaru's lecture on - Himiko had noticed that she hadn't taken any notes from the lesson. She reached into her schoolbag to take out a notebook and pen before realising that she couldn't even take notes anyway due to the condition of her hand.

_Great, I'm gonna miss out on notes now. Way to go me for suddenly turning into Mike Tyson and hurting my hand..._

She couldn't help but stifle a laugh at herself, which Kimimaro noticed and gave her a questioning look.

"I kinda just realised that I can't take notes, how stupid am I."

She looked over to her new white haired friend who just raised an eyebrow at her and chuckled.

"Don't worry about it, I'll go get my notes photocopied for you. I just hope you can read my handwriting it's kind of squiggly and stuff."

"Thank you so much, I'll find a way to pay you back I promise."

Himiko beamed from ear to ear, he was a life saver.

"Don't think I won't hold you to that."

* * *

Later on that day Himiko made her way down the hallway with Kimimaro seeing as they just had History class together. It was now lunch and they were making their way towards the lunch hall seeing as neither of their friends seemed to be around.

"So how did that all start anyways?"

Kimimaro inquired subtly so any gossipers wouldn't hear in on their conversation.

"Apparently she used to go out with Sasuke and she still has some big crazy obsession with him. And she decided to show just how crazy she is by picking a fight..."

"Oh, I see. So she's fighting with you because of Sasuke..."

The white haired boy pondered as they made their way past the array of people that littered the narrow hallway.

"Yeah, I don't know why she thought-"

Himiko began before being cut off by Temari as she approached them from behind.

"Hey, there you are I've been looking all over for you."

The two stopped and turned to the blonde haired teen who had called after them. She approached Himiko and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Soooo, how did things go? You haven't been moved into a class of weirdos have you? I swear I miss you already."

Himiko paused for split second as she noticed a change in Kimimaro's body language; he stiffened up slightly as he stood next to her. She subtly looked over to him as she replied to her best friend.

"It could be worse so I can't complain I guess..."

Sensing a sudden air of awkwardness, Temari followed Himiko's line of sight and noticed the white haired boy standing beside her.

"Oh sorry I didn't even see you there Kimimaro."

"Don't worry about it, I should get going anyway. Jugo is probably wondering where I am."

He smiled and nodded his head curtly in their direction, his eyes meeting with Himiko's for a brief second before he took off in the opposite direction. Himiko instantly realised that it was not the way to the lunch hall...

"Well, we should hurry before there's no food left."

Temari spoke up after a few seconds of silence, realising that they were the only people left standing in the hallway at this point.

"Yeah, let's go..."

_What was that all about? I swear the way he looked at me before he left...it's like he was trying to tell me something. Now that I think about, it he was quick to leave the party when Sasuke showed up too...he said that he had "overstayed his welcome" or something._

_I wonder what he meant by that..._

* * *

**That's it for this chapter, I can't believe I'm nearly 20 Chapters in this story :O There's pleanty more to come though guys so stay tuned! **

**Thanks for reading :) xx **


	21. Chapter 20

**Hey guys, I'm back with another chapter! Again, which I know I say a lot, but sorry for the long delay but since I've been sick today I've finally had some time to get this chapter done yay! xD **

**Thanks again for the support so far, it's been great to read the reviews that I've gotten the past while. They really make my day. :3**

**And as always I do not own anyone or thing from the Naruto Universe, just my OC's Himiko and Mafuyu.**

**Annnnnnnnnd, ENJOY :)**

* * *

Chapter 20 – We need to talk

_**-Later on that day-**_

Naruto and Sasuke sat on a park bench on the outskirts of the town. The wind whipped around them as Sasuke inhaled from the second cigarette of their trip to the remote park.

"Dude you really need to quit with the smoking..."

Naruto looked over at his dark haired friend, noticing the impatient tapping of his foot on the on the concrete pathway.

"I'm stressed okay?"

Naruto let out a small sigh as Sasuke momentarily looked down at his phone to check for any messages. He had texted Himiko just before to let her know what was going on, but they didn't want to attract any unwanted attention from anyone else so they otherwise kept the 'meeting' a secret.

The phone in his hand vibrated unexpectedly, and he looked down to see who it was.

"I'm on my way babe; I knew you couldn't resist me for too long xxxx"

The black haired teen rolled his eyes in disgust as he read over the message that happened to be from an unknown number that wasn't saved in his contacts. He wasn't stupid though, he knew exactly who it was...

"She'll be here soon; I'll meet her at the entrance. Wait here..."

He immediately got up from the bench and wondered off towards the tall, rusted gates at the entrance of the otherwise abandoned parkland. Naruto just shrugged his shoulders as he watched his best friend walk in the opposite direction, throwing the remains of his cigarette into the distance as he left the park grounds.

After a few minutes of waiting, leaned against the fencing, Sasuke could hear the distant clicking of shoes on the pavement. No one else was around so it didn't take him long to notice Karin's approach. She strode toward him with confidence, a smug grin plastered on her face as her eyes never left him.

Sasuke had forgotten how creepy it was when she looked at him like that, it was unnerving to say the least.

Quickly shaking off how creeped out he was, he examined her face as she neared, noticing that she was wearing a lot more makeup than her remembered. He wasn't one to judge over a girl's use of makeup or anything, but she looked completely different than she did the last time he would have considered talking to her. Upon greater inspection he could notice the hollow in her cheeks below layers of makeup that he figured was there to cover up the drastic changes in her features. Now that he thought about it her face revealed a lot more than he expected it too. He could see that she had gotten dark circles around her eyes like she hadn't slept in days. Not to mention the bandage that she kept on her nose to cover the bruising that Himiko had caused. The girl looked like a mess...

Karin stopped in front of Sasuke and looked up into his eyes, breaking him from his thoughts.

"I knew you'd come around eventually...I missed you Sasuke."

She put on a seductive voice and smiled at him sweetly.

Quite frankly it made him feel sick to think that after all that she'd done, she would expect that him to come back to her.

"We need to talk Karin."

He said plainly, trying his best not to show any emotion as he was inwardly ready to explode.

"What about babe?"

She tried to play stupid, but Sasuke was having none of it.

"Look, maybe on the side of a road isn't the best place to talk...Let's go on walk."

He tried his best to sound polite but he still came off aggravated, but Karin didn't seem to mind, she was probably used to it.

"Oh how romantic, let's go"

She led the way into the main park area in excitement. Sasuke followed behind her as he waited for them to near the bench where Naruto was waiting.

"Karin we need to talk about what happened with you and Himiko."

She stopped dead in her tracks and turned to face Sasuke again.

"Why do we have to talk about that for, you know the story. She attacked me, I mean look what her man hands did to my nose!"

She fussed, pointing up at the bandage on her face. Sasuke just resumed walking and after a few seconds Karin followed.

"That's not the real story Karin..."

He started to get impatient, her innocent act was pointless. But she kept on the façade.

"You didn't need to bring her into this..."

"Well she kind of forced her way into it when she attacked me!"

She too grew impatient, her voice rising in pitch as she tried to put across her side.

"Everyone knows she didn't start it Karin, now tell the truth."

Naruto spoke firmly, making his presence known Karin. Her eyes went wide in surprise and she turned to look at her cousin.

"Naruto, what are you doing here? Why are you saying that, of all people I thought you would understand?"

Naruto sighed and opened his mouth to speak but Sasuke cut him off.

"Karin, Himiko is my girlfriend, I'm sorry but you need to move on. You doing all this shit is just making things worse for yourself and everyone around you. What you're doing is poisonous and no amount of make up or fake confidence can cover up what all this has done to you."

Karin stared off into the distance for a few seconds, taken aback. Even Naruto was a little surprised at what he had said, but she quickly shook it off.

"But I need you; we've been through so much and were strong enough to make it through anything."

The change in Karin's features finally revealed her true feelings. Both teens could see it in her eyes, the level of desperation that she had come to. The maddened look that she wore said it all, and within an instant the atmosphere had plummeted into a sullen mood.

"Karin...I hate to say it but you're just not good for each other. Can't you see what all this has done to you; you were never like this before."

"That has nothing to do with anything; I don't know what you're trying to do but spouting stuff like 'Oh you've changed' isn't going to work."

The red haired teen began to tear up despite her venomous words.

"I warned you about this Karin, I knew this was going to happen sooner or later but you didn't listen."

"You just don't understand Naruto, just because you've never been loved before doesn't mean we all have to be alone."

Naruto furrowed his brows deeply, she had hit a nerve with him and she knew it. She always knew what buttons to push. Even Sasuke scowled at her cruel remark.

"Don't you dare..."

Naruto fought back the urge to walk away from the situation. He was here to help Sasuke but he didn't expect Karin to strike so low. Sasuke noticed his friend began to shake with rage and decided it was best to put this to a quick end.

"I don't want anything to do with you Karin, you hear me? Don't come near me or Himiko again. If you wanna pick a fight with anyone, then pick one with me because this is between us. We're done. "

Sasuke turned to walk away as Naruto shook his head.

"You've put the nail in the coffin this time Karin, I want nothing more to do with you."

Naruto spoke barley above a whisper as he too turned to leave.

"That okay, do you think I care? I don't need you; I don't need either of you!"

She shrieked as they walked away without looking back. Karin fell to her knees in a fit of tears and her sobs faded in the distance as Naruto and Sasuke exited the park area.

_I don't need them; I'm the most popular girl in the school. Fuck Sasuke, I'll find someone even better than him. He'll be sorry aright, just wait and see..._

The red head finally collected herself and got up off the ground to sit on the bench that was previously occupied by Naruto. She whipped away the tears that had all but ruined her makeup, but that was the least of her worries. She wouldn't be spoken to like that; she wouldn't stand to be treated like shit again. So now all that was left to do was make him pay, make them all pay...

She took her phone out from her coat pocket; the glare of the small screen hurt her eyes in the now dim remains of sunlight. After pressing a few buttons on her keypad, she pressed the phone to her ear. A few moments later the familiar ring of the caller's voice brought a smug grin to her face.

"Hello? It's Karin; I need to talk to you about something."

* * *

Meanwhile, back at Jiriya's bungalow, Himiko had invited Temari and Sakura round for a girly night in. They sat in the living room watching TV with an array of blankets covering the floor, which of course was Temari's idea.

"Himiko I have to say, your brother is fine as hell."

Temari gushed as she returned to the living room after getting another bowl of snacks from the Kitchen.

"Temari I hope you didn't hit on him while you were out there or I'll have to tell Shikamaru."

Sakura giggled while Himiko threw a blanket at her blonde haired friend, using her undamaged arm.

"That's my brother you weirdo. That's like me hitting on Gaara, you would have me executed."

"True, but Gaaras not a buff solider."

Himiko rolled her eyes sarcastically as she changed the channel on the TV. Temari had managed to dodge the blanket and took it as her own to sit on.

"Annnnyway, I hear someone's been asked on a date."

Himiko spoke in sing song as she looked over at Sakura who instantly went red at the mention. Temari joined in with a timely 'OoOoOoOh' for extra measure.

"It's nothing too fancy, just the movies."

She shrugged her shoulders in an attempt to play it cool, but of course the others could see right through her.

"Movies and chill is it?"

Temari chuckled to herself at the "witty" play on words that she had come off with. Himiko just shook her head in mock disgrace.

"Just because _you're _into that kind of dirty business doesn't mean we all are Temari!"

Sakura protested, but couldn't help laughing along too.

"Diedera never asks anyone out, come on he even risked his job for you."

"Oh don't even remind me of that, I'm still embarrassed."

Sakura rolled her eyes and took a sip of her juice.

"Well at least fill us in on the details of how this date plan went down."

Temari and Himiko huddled in closer to hear the story.

"Okay..."

Sakura sighed before sitting up to tell them. She was trying to make it look like she was complaining but Himiko and Temari knew she was excited.

"So he called me up the day after the party and well, we talked for a bit. We've texted back and forth a bit and he's really not the person that people make him out to be. I know some of those guys he hangs around with are kinda dangerous, but he's so sweet."

The tinge on Sakura's face just about matched her hair at this point, but it was great to see her so happy about meeting a guy. The last guy she dated was an ass-hole to say the least...

"So yea, he texted me this morning saying there's this film coming out...Deadpool I think it was?"

"Oh yea I've heard all about that one, I swear to God I had to listen to Naruto and Sasuke gush over it the other day...Honestly felt like I was third wheeling them for once."

The three teens erupted into laughter at Himiko's last comment, not the least bit surprised at how those two act.

"I'm hoping it's good though, for a superhero movie I mean."

"Oh no, don't let anyone hear you say that, 'It's not just some superhero movie, you couldn't be more wrong', I can already hear the lectures..."

Temari added, each word dripping with sarcasm.

"Where are those two by the way, there always floating around in the background somewhere?"

Sakura mused, looking around as she had just noticed the absence of the two teens that are practically part of the furniture at this point.

"Oh there just out somewhere, they probably won't be back for a while..."

Himiko shifted slightly in her position, trying not to sound suspicious but she could tell that she had already given herself away by the look on the others' faces.

"Is something wrong Himiko?"

Temari locked eyes with her best friend, and in that moment she knew something was up. As much as she tried, Himiko was never a good liar. She knew that it was pointless to try to make something up, and she could trust Temari and Sakura.

"Okay, I'll tell you but please keep this top secret... They went to go talk to Karin. They freaked out after what happened but I told them not to do anything stupid. They said they would try to talk things out and hopefully resolve everything."

Temari and Sakura fell silent for a few moments as they listened to what Himiko had to say. Before long, Sakura reached out to put an arm around Himiko.

"Do you think it'll work?"

"Honestly, I don't know..."

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter, It was kinda heavy but I think it was needed xD. Finally onto chapter 20, it feels like so log ago I started writing this, and I still love writing it despite the fact it takes me a while to upload. I'm also thinking of starting a few new projects once this one is done (which it won't be for a while, but I'd love to hear any suggestions anyone has for any more Naruto fanfics, whether it be like this or something completely different.)**

**Stay tuned for more and thank you for reading! :3 x **


End file.
